Lost and Found
by Fog-22
Summary: / The war between Corneria and Venom changes everything in the Lylat system. Millions die, and the old governments of both planets collapse into dust. The members of teams Star Fox and Star Wolf both lose nearly everything they once held dear. But time never stops, and somehow they find ways to move forward. /
1. Firmament

Chapter 1: Firmament

Shortly after the end of the Lylat Wars:

"Alright Mr. O'Donnell, this is your cell. We will inform you when we've scheduled your trial," explained the guard with a bizarrely soothing voice. Wolf O'Donnell stepped in without a word. He was still far too baffled by the events of the past few days to react. He wasn't even sure he could be angry.

The guard put on the force field, then deactivated Wolf's cuffs. The new prisoner swung his arms with relief.

"Is there anything you would like in the meantime?" he asked. "We can give you access to books and videos if you so choose. There is also a virtual chess set, and you can be matched against an AI of appropriate skill, or another random prisoner."

Wolf almost chuckled. He had expected to be killed immediately, not captured and imprisoned. And now they were going to put him on trial? He knew that bounties had been placed on him, in the past, but something still seemed off.

"Um...actually I'd like some books. Just give me whatever you have," Wolf said.

"Very well." The guard nodded and made a few taps on his wrist. A holographic book became visible on the cell's small plastic bench. He began to stride away quickly.

"Wait!" Wolf called out. The guard stopped and turned around, but didn't walk back.

"So what...what is this trial about exactly? What's going to happen to me?"

The guard made an uncomfortable expression. "I don't really know," he admitted. "The Council might decide you're a threat and execute you. They might decide you're not and let you free."

"That doesn't help!" Wolf insisted. "Who is this Council anyways? Where's General Pepper?"

The guard barked a laugh. "General Pepper is dead. The Council runs Corneria now."

"And what does this mysterious Council want?" Wolf snapped back.

"Peace," the guard declared grandly. "Peace for all."

"Well, I guess we'll just see how that works," Wolf responded, though he was a bit surprised. The guard looked absolutely convinced in this Council and its supposed goal of. Maybe this would be a new chapter for the Lylat Cluster after all.

The guard turned and walked away with finality. Wolf sat down and picked up the book. He pulled up _The Wild Calls_ , a classic he had read in high school, but didn't bother to read now. His head was awash in thoughts. But, he supposed, at least he would have time to sort them all out.

So Corneria had won. Emperor Andross had been killed, and Venom was in ashes. He knew this. He wondered what would become of Venom, though he was more concerned for his homeworld of Macbeth. Would either of them fall to the hands of another madman?

 _So where do my allegiances lie now?_ Wolf wondered. He had fought for Venom because he had lived there for so long. He had hated Corneria for how it had stifled and bullied the other worlds of Lylat for decades and decades, but now even that government had collapsed. And this is new Council...well, he couldn't make any conclusions yet.

But that was it for abstract things like governments. What about people? Did he have anyone he trusted anymore?

Well, his old team was all dead or missing, so there was nothing to say there. But what about his enemies?

There was always Fox McCloud, he realized. But no, maybe not. Wolf admired James McCloud greatly, but Fox might not know this. And even though Wolf had saved Fox's life once, he had no idea what Fox himself had made of that. It was all too much to assume.

Wolf sighed. So, he could start over again, entirely from scratch this time. That wasn't so bad. He was sure that the populace of Corneria would be just like any other world, an undefinable sea of good, bad, and average people mixed together. He would have a lot to learn, but he would survive. No matter what the Universe threw at him, he had always found a way to survive.


	2. Projections

Chapter 2: Projections

Exactly Three Cornerian Years Ago:

"There's no easy way to say this," Peppy Hare said, his usually authoritative voice cracking a bit.

"You know your father was on a mission to Titania, right?"

Fox nodded wordlessly. He had a knot in his stomach and he wanted to run away. He was already expecting the worst.

"Well, it was a bit more than that," Peppy continued, deciding to make the pain quick and smooth, rather than drawing it out.

"He also went on a reconaissance mission to Venom, and was shot down and killed. We still don't know all the details. I'm so, so very sorry Fox."

Fox hadn't moved an inch. He felt like he could explode in every direction at once, at the speed of light, and somehow that prevented him from moving at all. But finally the energy could not be contained.

"Fox, I know that-" Peppy began, but he faded off. Fox was silent and unmoving.

 _No! No, it wasn't possible! Dad was all he had left! He couldn't die! He couldn't..._

Fox's eyes filled with tears, and just as quickly dried up. The world had been taken from under his feet. There was no gravity, no form, no frame of reference, not anymore. He realized he was trying to scream but all that came out was a silent, dry whelp.

Peppy put an arm around Fox. "I'm so sorry. We'll get through this though. It'll be okay."

Fox realized that Peppy was choking back tears as well.

"Okay. I know," Fox managed. "I know."

"Good," Peppy said slowly. "Will you be okay? If you need some time off we can always change your class schedule and..."

"No, Peppy, it's okay. I'll be fine. Thanks."

"You sure? It's no problem at all."

"Yes. It's okay."

"Alright then. Just come back here when your classes are done."

"Will do."

Somehow Fox managed to get through his classes. When they let out, he entirely forgot to see Peppy again. Instead, he ran all the way home without stopping, dodging the trams and bicycles on the road. It took him two hours.

Fox and his Dad had a quiet, comfortable house in a small neighborhood separated from Corneria City proper. Fox went in, went immediately to his room, and buried himself under the covers. _It was all just a nightmare, just a bad dream, and he would wake up soon to see his Dad's face waking him up. Yes, that's it._

Eventually, Fox did fall asleep. He actually woke up the next day in time for classes. He got up and padded around the house. He opened all the lights, but everything looked dull now no matter what.

Suddenly he heard the door bell ring. He went over and looked through the peephole. It was Peppy Hare, waiting patiently with a small box.

Fox sighed heavily and opened the door. "Hey, Fox, I just figured..."

"Yeah. Yeah. Come on in," Fox said weakly. Peppy shuffled in awkwardly, and sat at the kitchen table. He put the box in the middle. Fox sat down across from him.

"You doing okay?" Peppy asked. "Have you talked with your friends at all?"

He hadn't, Fox realized. He wasn't sure if his friends even knew what happened.

"Um, no," Fox answered finally.

"Okay. Well, I know this is painful but we have to talk about some things. You're still a minor, so that creates some legal issues. I've been able to deal with most of it but I still need to let you know what's going on."

"Right," Fox forced through his teeth. He did not want to think about that at all.

"So, until you turn eighteen next year, you'll need to have a legal guardian. James left some papers requesting that, if it ever came to it, I would take over that role. Do you consent to that?"

"Yes. Yes, of course," Fox replied.

"Good." Peppy tried to smile a bit. "Thanks. That was the biggest part."

Peppy took out some physical papers from the box, and spread a few holographic documents in the space between them. Fox pulled a few over to himself and began reading, drumming his fingers on the table.

"Well, this document is a summary of your finances. The biggest thing here is the loan your father took out for the Great Fox. I still don't know what I'm going to do about that, but you don't have to worry. I'm sure it can be sold to the Defense Force, or at worst sold for scrap..."

Fox's fingers stopped mid-drum. "No. No, we can't do that."

Peppy gave Fox an oblique look. "What do you mean? That ship isn't any use to your or me anymore."

"Who says?" Fox insisted.

"Well, common sense does. Star Fox is over with now," Peppy said, clearly straining to keep an even tone.

"Peppy, there has to be a way. I can't let my father's work die! I'll take over Star Fox if I have to." And Fox realized he meant it.

Peppy sighed and cleaned his glasses with a stray napkin. "Fox, you poor thing, you don't have to-"

Fox set down his papers. "I know. I want to. I can't let myself do anything else."

Peppy's mouth twitched into what might have been a smile. He took back some of the physical papers from Fox's hand and ripped them in half.

"Then we've got our work cut out for us, don't we?"

The Present Day:

Fox slipped out of bed and opened the blinds in his room. Lylat was just starting to fall in its arc across the sky, and its bright bluish-white light filtered through the tall, spindly towers of Corneria City to chase away the shadows. Had Lylat always been so wonderfully yet unbearably bright?

Fox stood there for a minute in his underwear, letting the light warm his dense fur. It was nearly 2:00 in the afternoon. Normally he at least tried to wake up by 1:00.

It had been nearly a year now, he realized, a year since he had killed Andross and ended the Lylat Wars. And it was now exactly three years since his father had died, since the Wars had begun.

Fox looked out at the city. It was not the same city he had grown up in all those years ago. It looked the same, for the most part, but it no longer felt like home. He wasn't really sure what did, now.

His bright green eyes scanned the skyline, stopping finally at the elegant needle-like structure which had once been called The General's Tower.

Fox chuckled to himself. He had once spent a lot of time in there, studying while his dad had planned missions with General Pepper. Now even General Pepper was gone, executed by some enigmatic Reform Council mere weeks before the Wars ended.

Fox closed the blinds again and stepped into his kitchen. He lit a candle for the memory of his father, a real one made of wax, with a cotton wick, and smiled as its own soft orange light spread across the room.

He flopped back onto his bed. A whole year already, and he still had no idea what to do with his life. He had to find something, though. They all did.

 _Maybe I'll go to that_ _dance_ _club again_ , Fox considered. _I've got to get out_ _and do something._

Fox got up from the bed yet again and checked his refrigerator, finding to his satisfaction that he still had enough left for a few days. He took out some pizza and heated it up.

 _Would he be disappointed in me now?_ Fox wondered. _I may have avenged my father, but what am I doing now?_ _Would Dad have been able to kill Andross faster than I did? End the Wars sooner? What would he have thought of the Council?_

Fox wondered this practically all at once, flitting between thoughts and emotions while he sat on his couch and chewed his pizza slowly. He distracted himself from these thoughts by flipping through various movies for several hours, never quite able to finish any of them.

Eventually he gave up and shut the movies off. He looked over at the candle again. It was still glowing brightly.

He got up and put some actual clothes on. It was time to dance. He stopped by the candle and touched a finger to the wax, as if a kiss to the cheek.

"Bye, Dad, I'm going out," Fox whispered. "I'll be back soon."

"Ah, sorry!" Fox McCloud exlcaimed has he tripped past another clubber, a particularly tall man, a wolf, in a black jacket. He heard the other man stumble, then the sharp crash of glass.

The other man grabbed Fox and whirled him around. "Hey, watch it!" He yelled directly into Fox's ear. Then, just as suddenly, he let Fox down and seemed to force himself to calm down.

"Hey, I'm sorry!" Fox repeated. "I'll pay for your drink if you want." It was very late (or really, very early in the morning), and he should really have gone back home an hour or two ago. But tonight, for some reason, he didn't want to go back.

"No," the other man said, more relaxed now. "No, it's fine. It was just some cheap beer. We'd better clean up the glass though."

"Right," Fox agreed. The other man grabbed some napkins and handed some to Fox. They swept up the glass together and dumped it in a nearby trash bin. Something about the man seemed...familiar. His voice, the way he carried himself, where was it from?

"Wait a minute," the man said. "Are you...Fox McCloud?"

Fox froze. He thought he had disguised his appearance pretty well. He had been careful to cover his interface with a shawl and sports cap. He didn't want anybody to recognize him here, not like this. It would ruin him.

But the wolf didn't seem surprised or disturbed. Instead, he folded his arms petulantly. "It is you, isn't it? Don't you recognize me? I'm, uh, I'm Wolf O'Donnell."

By the Stars, it was him! He had trimmed and dyed his fur a bit, and was wearing an eyepatch to cover his interface, but it was definitely him. Fox almost gasped.

He had nearly forgotten about Wolf. After the War, the trials, the Rebuilding, he had lost track of a lot of things, friends and enemies alike. He knew that most of the charges against Wolf were retracted after the Revolution, but that Wolf had still spent some time in prison, doing some sort of community service.

"Oh," Fox said weakly. "Yes, it's me. What do you want?"

Wolf looked offended. "Nothing, I'm just surprised to see you at a place like this."

Fox noted incongruously that Wolf's Cornerian Standard still had quite a thick accent. He sighed. "You know what, me too. I'm tired. I'm going back home."

He took a step and tripped again, this time directly into Wolf. _Damn, I'm in bad shape_ , Fox admitted to himself.

"Uh, okay. You want some help with that?" Wolf asked, now entirely shocked at the behavior of his former rival. Was this the Fox that had shot scores of ships out of the sky at a time? The one that had saved all of Corneria from invasion and killed Emperor Andross himself? Was that the man now stumbling drunkenly in front of him?

"Sure. Fine," Fox said, yawning. Wolf took him by the shoulder and got on the tram. It was nearly empty.

"Where do you live, Fox?" Wolf asked. Fox mumbled the address of his apartment complex, which thankfully wasn't too far.

When they got to the stop, Fox stood up resolutely and walked away quickly. He didn't really want Wolf to be following him, though this was more out of embarrassment than suspicion.

Wolf got up anyway. "Hey, stop, I'll be fine," Fox said.

Wolf put up his hands wordlessly and sat back down. "Alright, just wanted to make sure you got home safely."

"Well, thanks," said Fox, and he stepped off the tram. "Goodnight."

"Uh, goodnight," Wolf said as the tram door closed and the vehicle sped off on its endless loops around Corneria City.

Fox walked into his apartment building and stumbled into the elevator. This was his favorite part of his apartment, as silly as it seemed. The elevator. He lived on the 111th floor, near the top of the apartment complex but about mid-level in terms of Corneria City's vast ecology of skyscrapers and arches.

He enjoyed the ride up and down, watching the giant holographic ads blend together, feeling the slight changes in g-force. It was miniscule compared to the g's he put on in an Arwing, but he felt that the elevator helped remind him to focus on the little things.

As much as he could focus on anything, at least. That was the hard part now. Just focusing.

Fox reached his apartment and crawled into bed. He pulled up a chart of the Lylat Cluster and twirled it around in his hand. He expanded it and began to trace the stars very precisely, just like he had when he was a young child, and was just starting to learn about the world. Seeing that chart always gave him motivation during the War, and he hoped that that it would continue to do so.

There was Lylat. Katina's star Ferrule. And then, Venom's star Teris. And then the giant Dekhura, which would probably go nova in a few million years. Then the binary white dwarfs, Frakta and Mekta, and then...

After a long time tracing the holographic chart, Fox finally fell into his typical fitful sleep. The apartment's AI flipped off the chart and reviewed its owner's appointments for the next day. There was only one: Fox had an appointment with his psychologist. The AI queried Corneria's collective network and learned that Fox had missed two out of the last five appointments. It determined that it would provide larger and more obtrusive reminders than typical.

Wolf's apartment was only about five minutes away from Fox's, he realized with dull surprise. They had been living practically next to each other for how long, then? A year at least?

Wolf got off the tram, which was empty now, and took the elevator up to his own room, which was only on the 20th floor. He didn't necessarily care to be close to the sky or the stars, not right now. In any case, though, he was very happy with his apartment. It was modest by Cornerian standards but it was more luxurious than any living quarter he had ever had before. And it was really his. He owned it. He was safe in it.

He wondered if he would see Fox again. They had not exchanged contact information, but surely, Wolf figured, he could find Fox again at that same dingy club. Then he could figure out what was wrong with his old rival.

Wolf sat down on his chair with a glass of extremely cold water. He felt conflicted. He wasn't exactly sure how much he should care about Fox. Sure, his father had made a big impact in his life, but Fox was his own person. If Fox hated him, and never wanted to see him again, then he would be fine with that.

But then Wolf's own aggressive side made a counter-argument. It disturbed him to see Fox in such a sorry state. He wanted to understand what had happened to him, and maybe even find some way to help. Fox might not like it, but at some point he didn't care. He felt he owed it to the memory of James McCloud to take care of Fox. If something didn't work, and his plan blew up in his face, then so be it. He had to try.


	3. Volk

Chapter 3: Volk

Approximately Two Years Ago:

"You should have heard your father scream," Pigma bellowed. "And now I'll get to make you scream too."

 _No. No, it couldn't end here_ , Fox thought. _I can't let him kill me too!_

Fox fired wildly at Pigma and ran as fast as he could. He had not yet succeeded in gathering the intelligence from this Venomian military base that he had hoped for, but that would have to wait. He had not expected team Star Wolf to be here as well.

Fox's shots missed, though they did give Pigma pause. Pigma shot back, and grazed Fox's arm. Blood splattered everywhere.

There was nowhere to hide. They were both in the middle of the base's enormous airstrip, now covered in cold, cold Fichina snow. And the snow was getting thicker. Pigma was gaining on him again.

Fox almost considered burying himself in the snow. It was cowardly, to be sure, but it just might keep him alive. Pigma would sure lose sight of exactly where he was if the blizzard came fast enough, right?

But just then, bad turned to worse. Fox tripped, and some hard metal object buried underneath slashed his chest.

He could hear Pigma's boots crunch as he walked closer.

 _Oh, by the Stars, it really would end here, wouldn't it? I'm so sorry, Dad. I'm so sorry, Peppy, Slippy, Falco..._

But then he heard a blast, and a scream, and the footsteps stopped. Fox pulled himself up and realized there was blood oozing from his chest. At least the cold dulled the pain.

In a moment of bizarre lucidity, he picked up the metal part which had injured him. It was a component for the landing gear of a helicopter.

Then he looked around him. Pigma lay prone in the snow, and standing above him was none other than Wolf-O'Donnell, gun still pointed down at the pig's head.

Fox was frozen for a moment in awe. This was really Wolf O'Donnell, Venom's fiercest mercenary, and he had just killed his own companion, Pigma Dengar. And he appeared to have no regrets about it at all.

Fox started to move. Wolf heard, and the two locked eyes for a split second. Fox saw a thousand emotions flash through the wolf's deep red eyes, almost the color of the fresh blood now covering his own clothes. But the wolf didn't attack him.

"Go!" he said.

Fox was still frozen in place.

Wolf snarled. "Just go! Run! I don't want to see you again!" He waved wildly with his gun.

Fox didn't waste time wondering why his rival would kill his own teammate, then let his enemy free. He got up and ran as fast has he could in the snow.

 _'_ _I don't want to see you again.'_ What exactly did Wolf mean by that?

The Present Day:

Fox slept until about noon the next day, and awoke to a big red message flashing above him: "Attention: Appointment With Dr. Felix In One Hour." He nearly jumped from fright. _Damn these AI_ s, Fox thought. Basic artificial intelligence was ubiquitous in the Lylat Cluster, but it had been different as a mercenary. Despite having one for about a year, he was still not used to how invasive and annoying the standard-issue domestic AIs were.

After a few minutes of wriggling around in bed, trying to avoid the inevitable, he got up and made himself presentable for the day. The government was paying for these therapy sessions, after all, so he might as well play good and at least go to them.

In any case, the office was in a small, old-fashioned building near the beach, and Fox figured it might at least be good to walk around and get some fresh air.

Fox headed over on the tram. Dr. Felix, an elderly labrador man, was actually outside, and greeted him jovially.

"Hey, Mr. McCloud! It's good to finally see you again! How are you doing?"

"Fine, thanks."

"Good. Well, let's go in."

Dr. Felix went up to his office, and Fox followed dutifully behind.

Fox hated it. It seemed fake. There had been none of this pandering in the Academy, and people got through fine. But now here he was, spilling his "feelings" about fighting a war-feelings about killing hundreds and hundreds of people over the course of two years-out to someone he barely knew in a room with bright yellow walls, full of cutesy plush dolls of baby animals. It was the most surreal thing he had ever experienced. Fox sat down and looked out the window. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky.

"Okay, so how have you really been?" Dr. Felix asked.

Fox described the night before, leaving out a few key details.

"Is that all, Mr. McCloud? You know, I was thinking, getting drunk at a nightclub would be pretty typical behavior for any other twenty-year-old, but it doesn't seem characteristic of you."

Fox shrugged. "Actually, there was something else," he admitted. "I saw Wolf O'Donnell."

Dr. Felix gasped. "I see. What happened?"

"Well, I bumped into him by accident and made him drop his glass. He recognized me first. I was in a pretty bad state by then, so I said so and he just...walked me home. He actually seemed concerned for me."

"That is interesting indeed," Dr. Felix noted.

"You know I had actually lost track of Wolf after the War. Do you know what happened to him in the meantime? Just curious."

Dr. Felix furrowed his brow. "Normally, I would say no, but this is a special case. As it happens, an acquaintance of mine served as Wolf's psychologist while he was imprisoned. I can ask her about it."

"Could you give me his contact information, by any chance?" Fox asked, surprising himself.

Dr. Felix looked equally surprised. "No, I'm sorry, I definitely can't do that. I'm not even going to ask why you would want it."

"Uuh, right, sorry."

"Is there anything else you want to talk about? Have you been interested in anything else lately?"

Fox thought about what he had told Wolf last night. "Honestly, not really. I just want to lose myself somewhere and not have to come back."

Dr. Felix hummed briefly. "You say that every time. And you've never said where you want to get lost. But what are you running from?"

Fox closed his eyes tightly, as if suddenly exposed to a bright light. He hadn't thought about getting lost in an actual place. What would that mean?

"Where...I don't know. That's the problem. I don't care where it is as long it's not here."

"What's _here_ , for you?"

"The City. Corneria. Lylat."

"Did you feel this way during the War?"

"You said you were just focused on killing Andross, right?"

"Yes, that's correct."  
"And you felt better after that, right?"

"Of course I did! Of course! But...but..."

Dr. Felix made an encouraging him. Fox knew what he had to say but he hated it. He hated how childish it sounded.

"...But it didn't bring my father back, did it?" Fox opened his eyes again and tried to choke back a few tears.

"Oh, you poor thing! Is that what you've been meaning to say all this time?"

Fox nodded. He breathed deeply a few times, trying to keep a hold of himself.

"Here, take your time. Why did it take you so long to say this? It's common to feel like that after losing a parent. It takes time to realize they're not coming back. It's not strange or bad."

It was true. But Dr. Felix said it like he was reciting a script, like he had said it dozens of times before. Well, probably he had. _You're hardly the only person to lose a parent_ , Fox reminded himself. Still, the artifice of it all made him uncomfortable.

"So," Dr. Felix interrupted, but somehow his tone had changed. "I actually not supposed to be asking you this, but I'm overcome by curiosity. What did you think of General Pepper?"

Fox was startled.

"He was...a little creepy," Fox said, admitting his true thoughts for the first time.

"He acted like an overbearing family member to me. But I was glad he let me fight Andross in my own way."

"Hm, interesting," Dr. Felix murmured, indicating for Fox to continue. "What about later in the Wars? And when he died?"

"I was angry," Fox answered firmly. "General Pepper was creepy, but he had still given me everything I needed after my Dad died, so I was on his side. I think...I actually did feel sad. But mostly angry. I'm not even sure why. Angry at him, angry at myself, all of it."

"But even so, we still won the War," Dr. Felix suggested. "Do you think much would have been different if General Pepper were still in power?"

"Hah! Well, I might have a bigger pension, that's for sure. There'd still be posters of me on every corner! I'd still be a hero!"

"I thought you said you hated those posters, Fox," Dr. Felix pointed out.

Fox leaned back. He had said that.

"I mean I did," Fox admitted, "But still, the Council has not been as kind to me as General Pepper would have been."

"Perhaps," Dr. Felix agreed, "But I still feel like there's more going on here. You wouldn't really want to be a celebrity, would you?"

Fox considered for a moment. Would he? Would he _really_? All the parties and speeches and events...

"Ugh, I guess not. But I can dream, right?"

"Now you can. But in another timeline there's a very wealthy and famous Fox McCloud seeing me for his papparazi-induced drug addiction."

Fox gulped.

"Maybe, but that doesn't make me feel better right now," he complained.

"Ah, you're right. I'm sorry. Let's talk about something else," Dr. Felix suggested.

The two fell into silence for a while. Fox traced the path of a blimp moving across the cloudless sky, and Dr. Felix seemed content to watch him watch.

"You know, there actually is something else I've been thinking about," Fox said abruptly.

"Oh, what's that?" Dr. Felix asked enthusiastically.

"Well, I was thinking about dating and-you know what, never mind, I'm sorry."

"What's wrong?"

"Just, never mind," Fox repeated. "Forget about it. I'm not ready yet."

"Of course. Just go at your own pace."

Dr. Felix looked at the clock. They still had half an hour appointed.

Often Fox would leave these sessions early, when he had decided that it was enough, but this time Fox didn't seem so eager to leave. Dr. Felix wasn't sure what that meant.

"You know, I made some pie the other night," Dr. Felix stated incongruously. "Would you like some? We don't have to talk about anything if you're done, but you might as well stay..."

"Huh? Oh, uh, sure. Fine. Thanks," Fox replied.

Dr. Felix walked out and brought back a pecan pie from another room. He cut it carefully, giving Fox a generous portion and a smaller slice for himself.

So the two ate in silence, accompanied only by the occasional tinging sound of their forks against the ceramic plates.

Fox realized he wasn't actually sure when he last ate together with somebody.

They both finished their slices at about the same time. When he was done, Fox stood up and began walking out of the office.

"Thanks again for the pie. See you later," Fox said over his shoulder.

"Ah, wait," Dr. Felix called.

Fox stopped and turned around.

"What is it?"

"You seem like you could use a hug today," Dr. Felix said authoritatively, spreading his arms.

Fox complied and hugged Dr. Felix. This was all so stupid. Yet somehow he felt a little bit better.


	4. The Woods

Chapter 4: The Woods

A few days later, Fox got a call from Falco.

"Hey Fox! How are you doing?"

"I'm doing alright. As usual, I guess." Fox made an exaggerated sigh to illustrate his point.

"Yeah, I know how you feel," Falco replied.

"Well, how are you?" Fox asked. "How are your parents?"

"I'm fine, they're fine. It has really been nice living with them again, really. I guess this was my fault but I think...I think we understand each other a lot more now."

"Good! That's good to hear, Falco."

"So, anyways, uh, wanna come over? It's been, like, at least a month since we saw each other after all. I was thinking we'd go over to the Research Institute and try to find Slippy too."

"Oh, that sounds like it could be a challenge."

"Maybe. Anyways, come on over! I'm waiting for you. Oh, but wear something...official-looking."

"Hah, alright then! I'll see you soon."

"See you!"

Fox hung up, changed into what little formal clothing he had, and rushed to the tram station. It really had been too long. Falco's house was in the financial district, in the literal center of the City: it was the central point if you drew a circle to encompass the City, and the average height of all the skyscrapers, at about a fourth of a kilometer above ground level. It was not a part of the city he would ordinarily otherwise visit, in fact.

Thankfully the tram was not backed up that day, and it slid through the shimmering diamond towers, holographic ads, and occasional artificial parkland right on schedule, depositing him at a small park on the roof of the Central Bank. Falco's house was on the same level in the adjacent tower.

Falco was actually waiting for him outside the front door.

"Fox!" he cried, running over to embrace his friend. Fox couldn't match Falco's wings for sheer envelopment, but he tried to give a firm hug back.

"Man, is it good to see you. You know, I've been doing better, actually. My nightmares are starting to go away."

"That's great, Falco! I'm glad you're feeling well." Fox said enthusiastically. He was glad at least one of them had their heads on mostly straight.

"Yeah, me too. I was even thinking about trying to apply for flight registrations again. I know we haven't had any luck since the Council took over, but maybe if we keep trying..."

Fox chuckled. "Still, Falco? They shot us down five times already."

"So? They'll come around eventually. And then once we're in the air again, it'll all be better. I'm sure of it."

Fox smiled at his friend. Once, this sort of blind confidence had annoyed him, but now he was grateful.

Falco finally opened the front door and led Fox in. His parents were standing in the welcome room to meet them.

"Hello, Mr. Lombardi, Mrs. Lombardi," Fox said, bowing. They bowed in return.

"Please, you can call us by our first names," Falco's mother Jane insisted.

"Yes, of course. You're an adult now," his father Eric agreed.

"Okay, sorry," Fox said.

"No matter," Eric assured. "Make yourself comfortable. We made some food if you want."

"Oh, thank you, that's very kind of you," Fox said, even as Jane guided him into the kitchen, where an excessive amount of food was already laid out to eat.

"Try to relax, please," Jane said. "We'll uh, let you and Falco talk, but we'll be out on the balcony if you need anything."

"Thank you so much," Fox replied, bowing, feeling like he was eight years old again and coming over to Falco's house for the first time.

Falco grabbed a few meat kebabs from the kitchen table and sat on the couch. He patted the seat next to him for Fox.

Fox looked over the food, selecting a plate of biscuits and a stack of napkins for both himself and Falco.

"I forgot how shy your parents are," Fox remarked, sitting down next to his avian companion.

"Yeah. It was jarring for me, coming back," Falco said. "I mean, you all put up with me pretty well on the Great Fox. Didn't stay cooped up in your rooms, I mean."

Fox snickered. "Hehe, thanks, I think. I thought you said you were getting along better, though."

"Oh, we are," Falco responded. "They're always there to help me with my nightmares. I don't know what I'd do otherwise."

"That's good," Fox said, leaning back and taking in the decorations.

Falco gave Fox a concerned look. "You know, Fox, I really don't think it's good for you to be living alone like you are. I know that Slippy and I aren't exactly in great shape either, but come on! You deserve so much better than this! You are always wecome here if you want. I've always said that."

Fox smiled a bit. It was probably true, but he didn't want to give up his independence, however pathetic it may be. "I appreciate it, I really do, but I'm more comfortable alone right now."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it," Falco assented.

"So, why didn't you just invite Slippy here too?"

"I wanted to, but I couldn't contact her. She hasn't returned any calls in the past two days. Eventually I called Beltino, and he said that Slippy has been working in the lab nonstop. He asked us to find him, and he would give us clearances to get in."

"And what then?"

"We drag him out and get him some fresh air, of course!"

"Uh, huh."

Falco finished his kebabs and stood up. "So, ready to go?"

Fox stood up in turn. "Ready as ever."

Falco went over to the balcony for a moment. "Mom, Dad, Fox and I are going out to try to get Slippy!"

"Good luck, then! See if you can get him to come over for dinner!"

"Will do!"

Falco came back to Fox and nearly dragged him out the door. "Come on! Let's get to the car."

"The car?" Fox asked, surprised. Private cars were expensive.

"It's just a rental, of course. Do you wanna drive, Fox?"

Falco held the keys out in his hand. It was tempting, very tempting, but Fox knew he was out of practice.

"No, it's okay, you drive. Thanks though."

"Sure thing."

It was a pleasure to see Falco drive, Fox realized as his friend turned the car on, and it rose slowly above the parking strip. He pulled the wheel back and it shot off smoothly and quietly into the air.

Falco looped a few times around his residential tower, then took them down into the lower-level corridors meant for small volumes of traffic. Fox could tell that Falco was trying to be relaxed, but he couldn't help but drive the car like an Arwing, with a directness and aggression that usually did not suit car-driving very well.

The Space Dynamics Research Institute wasn't much to look at. In fact, most of it was underground, at the edge of the City. The only structures that poked above the ground were the parking garages and a bewildering assemblage of

Falco slid them into the last slot of the visitor's parking strip, which to their surprised was mostly full.

Fox and Falco spotted Beltino in the main lobby immediately, though he seemed to be swamped by a group of eager-looking reporters and officials.

"Fox! Falco!" he bellowed, swatting away the previously-enraptured reporters with a wave of his long arm.

"It's great to see you two!" he continued, enveloping them both in a mighty hug.

"I've been meaning to contact you. Slippy's been here, doing wonderful work, but I keep telling him to take a break and he just won't listen. Maybe you two can talk some sense into him."

"Well, that's why we're here," Falco replied, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Excellent! Well, he's in the Neutrino Lab right now. They're running an experiment but it should be done within the hour. Maybe you can ambush him then."

"Sounds good," Fox said.  
"Good! Go on then, I've got to get back to these reporters. Here's your visitor cards."

"Uh, yes! Will do!" Falco affirmed.

"Good! I expect to see my son in the flesh sometime today!"

"Yes, sir!" Fox said, saluting and running off to join Falco as he started walking through the long, white, creepily clean corridors of the Institute. Figures of all shapes, sizes, and species would pass them from time to time, all wearing the same serious expressions, all wearing the same yellow lab coats.

"I never liked this place. I don't know how Slippy does it," Falco grumbled to himself as he grabbed Fox, having spotted a map on the wall.

They looked at the map and nodded wordlessly to each other once they had discerned the Neutrino Lab's position.

As it turned out, it was the deepest room in the entire structure, taking up its own small floor a full half kilometer below ground level. Fox had sometimes accompanied Slippy to the Institute in the past, but he had never been there before.

"Here, this way," Fox said, grabbing Falco now as if in return. "I almost forgot, but there's a service elevator this way that goes directly down. Slippy gave me the code a while ago."

A few minutes later, the friends stepped into the Neutrino Lab. It was kept cold and dark, and it was strangely damp. There was a hallway with small windows that ran around the Lab itself where one could observe the instruments inside, accelerators and detectors and machines whose purposes Fox and Falco could only guess at. They walked around the hallway slowly, trying to identify Slippy among the several hooded figures in the main room. However, this proved harder than they had expected.

Fox made a complete loop around the corridor, finally stopping at a nondescript door and beckoning Falco to join him.

"What is this?" Falco asked.

"It's the bathroom. He'll have to use it eventually."

"Oh. Of course."

As if on cue, a figure emerged from the decontamination room wearing plain shorts and an old stained shirt. The figure rushed over to the bathroom, ignoring the fox and pheasant entirely.

A few minutes later, it emerged again, and Fox put out his leg to trip him.

"Ah!" he yelled, almost out of synch with his own reactions, and stumbled to the other wall.

"Fox! Falco! What are you doing here?"

"Slippy, you moron! Look at yourself! We're here to make you take a break," Falco retorted, genuinely distressed at the state of his friend. Slippy's eyes were bleary and sunken, and his skin seemed somehow thinner than it normally was.

"Thanks but no need, Falco. Can't you see I'm busy? It's an important project too."

"Well, what is it? You've never bothered to tell us," Fox asked, trying to be a bit more even in tone than Falco.

Slippy huffed.

"You're right. Sorry. Better G-diffusers. That's what I'm working on. I've got three people to help me too. But it's so complicated. Our current diffusers rely on electroweak unification, which is well understood, but kind of a kludge since it requires such high temperatures. I'm trying to go at it more directly by just flipping the flavors of neutrinos that already exist in space. The mathematicians say it's possible, but we just can't get the precision we need to-"

Falco walked over and gently placed a hand over the frog's mouth. "Slippy, I didn't understand any of that. I'm sure it's amazing and all, but it's not more important than your own health. Please. Stop working for a while and come with us. Get some fresh air."

Slippy pushed Falco's hand away. "Fine. I know I can't get away from you two now. I never got why you pretend to not understand this stuff, Falco. We both took the same physics classes, after all."

"There's a difference between knowing and caring," Falco insisted. "And right now, I care about you more than some numbers and squiggly symbols."

Slippy's eyes turned over to Fox. "You know he's right," he said simply.

Slippy looked at his shirt. "Actually, what's the date?"

"It's the 20th," Fox answered.

"Of Caelus, right?"

"Yes, it's still Caelus."

"Phwew. Okay."

"Um, how long have you been down here then?" Fox asked.

Slippy picked at a stain on his shirt. "Five days, then."

"Five days! Okay, we are changing that right now!" Falco bellowed, hoisting Slippy on his shoulder and running as quickly as he could to the elevator. Slippy put on a show of protesting but didn't put any real feeling into it. "Wait, my assistants! I need to show them how to set up the wave detector!"

"Too bad," Fox said, trying not chuckle as he watched Slippy wriggle while captured in Falco's arms. It really was quite a sight.

Falco put Slippy down in the elevator, and he made no further complaint as they made their way back to the main lobby. Beltino was still there.

"Slippy!" He yelled immediately as the reunited trio got to the lobby, enveloping his son in a tight hug. Slippy, though rather smaller, tried to return the hug in equal measure.

"I missed you! You were down there for five days," Beltino noted.

"I know, Dad. I'm sorry. It's just the G-diffuser is..."

"I understand, Slippy. But try to take care of yourself. Go have some fun with your friends."

"Alright."

"Good!" Beltino bellowed, releasing his son, who stumbled almost perfectly into Falco's arms.

The amphibian and the avian disentanged themselves as Fox looked on with a smirk, and the other two smiled back sheepishly.

"Well, is there anything you want to do, Slippy? Anything at all?" Fox asked.

"Hmm..." Slippy's eyes wandered as he considered the question, far more deeply perhaps than Fox had intended.

"Actually, I want to go to the park. Remember the little one with the cold spring, and..."

"Say no more!" Fox declared. He and Falco began sprinting back to the car. Slippy jogged behind them.

Just a few minutes later, the three were sitting down on a wooden bench, with their shoes off and legs dangling into a small, cold stream.

Fox was whistling to himself, and Falco drummed along with his fists on the bridge to keep the rhythm. Slippy lapped leisurely at the ice cream that Falco had bought him.

"So, Slippy, why G-diffusers?" Fox asked. "What made you decide to work on that?"

Slippy cleared his throat and attempted to remove the ice cream from his lips. "You should know this, Fox. G-diffusers are pretty unreliable. They're still the most complicated single subsystem in an Arwing. Over 20,000 individual parts. The entire rest of an Arwing only has 50,000. You know, 10% of all casualties during the Lylat Wars could be traced back to a faulty G-diffuser."

 _Ten percent? That was a lot indeed_ , Fox realized, whistling a rising tone in understanding. He couldn't believe he had never thought about something like that before. Amazing how much he didn't know about the war he had fought in.

"Yeah, it was bad," Slippy continued. "I had actually suggested looking into this before the War, but nobody did. They said it would be too risky to change right then. But imagine how many lives we could have saved. And it's my fault!" Slippy whimpered.

"Slippy, you can't think about it like that," Fox argued. "This is not-this is not your burden. You don't have to work yourself to death now thinking about that."

"What about the soldiers? Those people actually died!"

"I know, but that wasn't your fault. I swear. It wasn't. That was...that's just how war is."

"I'm still not happy about it," Slippy replied.

"I know, Slippy. Me neither. I'm not happy about any of this," Fox whispered.

Slippy patted Fox's shoulder. "Oh, Fox, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so angry. You have it the worst of us."

"No point in comparing like that," Fox said.

"I'm just glad we're all back together again. Here on Corneria," Falco interjected.

"Yeah," said Slippy.

"Me too," said Fox.

They stayed on the bridge for a few more hours, watching Lylat fall below the sky before heading back to Falco's house.


	5. Consecration

Chapter 5: Consecration

"Artificial intelligence has been a field of consistent disappointment for the scientists, engineers, and philosophers of Lylat. They are ubiquitous now, but still no more _intelligent_ than domesticated livestock. It had been predicted at one point that computers would soon outperform organic pilots, but this day had failed to come now for a long time. Indeed, living brains remain far and away the best control systems for any aircraft.

But of course, the pre-existing interface between the brain and the outside world is often somewhat clunky. It is far too slow and inefficient for certain processes in a space fighter. For this reason, fighter pilots are outfitted with a cerebral interface, usually connected through the optic nerve. Decades of research have found this nerve to be the most efficient place for an interface of such depth. This interface allows the pilot to control their spacecraft directly, as an extension of their own bodies. They can feel every sensor and actuator as their own organs, the engine as a new metal heart, twin to the smaller, squishier heart within their own rib cage.

Cerebral interfaces can take many forms, and are usually made specially according to their wearer's neurological profile and any other particular requests. They may take the form of simple artificial eyes, visors attached to the side, bands over the brow, or even more exotic configurations.

In the Cornerian Flight Academy, interfaces are usually introduced at the age of sixteen, unless a pilot demonstrates unusual aptitude. This gives enough time for a student to learn everything possible without an interface, and also just enough time for them to become totally accustomed to their interface by the time they graduate. The Venomian Flight Academy has a looser policy towards interfaces, and students may choose to get them as early as fourteen, or as late as seventeen.

This interface leads to another peculiar feature of space fighter design. One might expect that, since pilots are literally plugged into their ships, there would be no use for physical controls. However, it has been found that many, if not most, pilots feel much more comfortable flying if their cockpit contains at least a few controls that they can interact with, or at least view. These are called "placebo controls." Usually these controls involve slower-paced processes such as changing engine phases, rather than split-second accelerations or aileron adjustments. Typically, less experience pilots have more elaborate placebo controls, and more experienced pilots have few or none at all. Thus, in a strange and unexpected turn of events, star fighter pilots have done more to advance the fields of psychology and neuroscience than any other single group of test subjects, since they have to literally integrate their own brains with a piece of mechanical technology."

- _A Brief Overview of Modern Computing_ , by John von Nutria and Alan Toucan

Wolf went to the same club again exactly a week later, and sure enough Fox was there. This time, Fox was much more alert and lively, dancing to the deep electronic beats that suffused the air with extraordinary grace. Wolf was actually entranced for a moment. He certainly couldn't dance that well himself. No, he was here as an observer, a student. His goal here was to absorb the pulse of Corneria and make it his own. He wanted to take in as much as he could until it all became soft and familiar, and then he could he finally call this planet his home. Dancing might come later.

Wolf continued to stare at Fox. His eyes were narrow and he was whirling around wildly now, as if pretending to fly. Well, that would only make sense. Wolf was a pilot, sure, but Fox clearly lived to fly. It was in his bones, thick as marrow. Wolf envied it, that passion, but clearly it had done something to Fox now that wasn't good.

Finally, the song drew to a close. Fox stopped his whirling and slumped his head a bit, panting.

 _Ah, what the hell. Here goes nothing_ , Wolf thought. He ordered two drinks, a mild concoction, and went over to Fox.

Fox was exhausted that night, but he actually felt pretty good. At least the exhaustion was from the dancing this time, rather than the alcohol. The dance floor was only sparsely populated tonight, and that allowed to him to try out some of his more adventurous moves. It was almost as good as being in an Arwing. He could almost forget...

"Hey!" someone called out of nowhere. "Fox! How are you doing?"

It was Wolf again! Why? What was this?

"What-hey! What do you want with me!?" Fox bared his teeth just a tiny bit. He silently thanked the Stars that his given name was generic enough not to attract immediate attention without the patronym.

"Gee, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Here, want a drink?"

Fox calmed down a bit, but he was still a bit on edge. He took the drink. Not his favorite, actually, but inoffensive enough, and he felt like being polite.

"You know, it's weird seeing you here. Twice now," Fox panted.

"Believe me, it's weird for me too," Wolf insisted in his heavy Venomian accent.

"For very different reasons, I hope!" Fox retorted.

Wolf just nodded a bit. "Yeah. Still, I'm confused about something," he said. Without realizing it, they had both walked back to the bar counter, at the edge of the dance floor.

"And just what is that?" Fox asked, actually a bit curious.

"I'm just, uh, curious why you're here at this club. I didn't think this sort of thing would be to your taste. I mean, the hero of Corneria, drinking and dancing himself away at nightclub. Do you come here every night? Just to get drunk? Why?"

Fox looked into his glass and swirled the rest of his drink. Wolf was of course asking him the same questions he had been asking himself.

"I...I don't know," he admitted. "I guess I come here to lose myself. Corneria may have won the War, but I've lost nearly everything else that I care about, you know. My Dad, Peppy, even General Pepper, kinda. I haven't flown in over a year. I have no purpose anymore. I just want to forget about it all."

Wolf's throat tightened. That was some heavy stuff. He supposed he could have figured it out; he knew all these things separately, but hadn't really thought about how Fox would have experienced them.

"Wow, I'm sorry," he said weakly, and Fox scoffed. "Like you really care," Fox said, sweeping his feet idly across the ground.

"I do! I actually do care. I mean, it doesn't feel right to see my greatest former rival like this," Wolf blurted. Fox gave him a confused look, and Wolf nearly bit his tongue.

Fox sighed. "Well, what about you then, Wolf? What brings you here? Anything in particular?"

Wolf chuckled a bit. "Hm, I guess for me it's the opposite. I'm trying to find myself now. Venom was not exactly a great place to grow up, but now I'm here on Corneria. I'm still trying to understand what makes this world tick. I've got to see every side of society, right? And that includes nightclubs."

"That's...a lot more philosophical than I expected, Wolf." Fox remarked, finishing his drink.

Wolf frowned. Naturally Fox would take a dim view of his character.

"Then it's clear you still underestimate me," Wolf retorted, only partly playfully.

"I still defeated you, though," Fox noted flatly.

Wolf snarled. "No, _you_ did not. Corneria defeated Venom, and I see now that's really no surprise. We may have both been poster boys for the War, but that doesn't mean that _you_ defeated _me_.

We didn't even fight each other head-on that much. You just happened to be on the winning side."

Wolf realized that he had thrust his face closer and closer to Fox's as he spoke. Fox was now leaning back, fear undisguised. After a few seconds, he took a step back and sighed.

"You know what, you're right. I'm sorry. We were both just poster boys. I apologize if what I said hurt you. I guess it's good that even if I don't, at least you have your head screwed on now."

Wolf swayed a bit. He regretted his anger now but he hadn't been expecting nearly that much backpedaling.

"Um, it's alright. I understand. Neither of us really know each other, after all."

"That's true," Fox agreed. "I've seen more of your face on propaganda than in person.  
"Hah, same for me, probably," Wolf realized.

The two fell into silence for a few moments, just long enough for their gazes to sweep across the room, for the lights to pulse and for snippets of foreign conversation to traverse the club.

"Hey, Fox," Wolf said abruptly. "I'm going to go the Cornerian High Art Museum tomorrow at noon. Would you like to come with me? I'd appreciate your knowledge base here, if you're willing."

Fox gulped. Wolf wanted to go to the Art Museum? What was up with him!?

"Um, I didn't know you were into art," Fox stammered.

"Oh, no, not really," Wolf explained. "But like I said, I want to understand the culture here. It's all just part of survival. Art, language-it all helps you survive in society, no matter how abstract it seems."

"Okay, but, uh, I was never really an art person though," Fox insisted.

"But I'm willing to bet that you were taught it in school. You've probably seen many famous paintings in passing and you didn't give them a second thought. That's because you grew up here. But I didn't. You absorbed a whole different cultural matrix that I don't have, and I want it."

Fox had to smile a bit. This was starting to sound like the Wolf he knew, strong and aggressive, but warped, distorted through a thousand alien lenses. Did he like it now? He really wasn't sure.

Fox sighed. "Okay, fine," he relented. "I'll go with you to the Museum, and try to answer your questions. No guarantees about anything, though."

Wolf smiled. "Thanks, Fox. I'm glad."

"Sure, Wolf. It can't hurt to get out sometime," Fox admitted.

"Great!" Wolf exclaimed. "You mind exchanging phone contacts?"

"Okay," agreed Fox. "It's a pity we can't use our interfaces more as civilians."

"Stars, yes! I feel like I'm missing a limb!" Wolf lamented. "Anyway, here's my number."

Wolf pressed a few buttons on his phone and brought it into contact with Fox's. The phones chimed in unison, and Fox looked at his to see what Wolf had exchanged. Wolf had given him a lot of information, actually-his contact number, address, where he worked, and even an emergency tracking code.

"Hawkins Construction. Wait a minute, Wolf, you're a construction worker now?" Fox asked with some fascination.

"Um, yes, we can talk about that later," Wolf muttered.

"Right, okay," Fox said. "Here's my number." The phones chimed again.

"Yeah, so, I should get going," Fox continued immediately. "I need to clean some things up at home. I'll see you tomorrow at noon."

"Okay, fine," Wolf said, looking slightly wistful. "We'll meet at the front of the Museum. See you then."

Wolf held out his hand, and Fox shook it perfunctorily. "See you then," he said, and started to wander off to the exist.

"Uh, have a good night!" Wolf called over as Fox walked away. Fox waved back behind himself, and hurried to the exit.

Wolf sat down at the bar and allowed himself to smile dumbly. He had finally gotten to speak with Fox, and he seemed alright. And they were going to do something tomorrow that didn't involve a war. Maybe his new life on Corneria could be pretty good.


	6. Juno

Chapter 6: Juno

The Cornerian High Art Musem was the largest art museum on the planet, and in the Lylat Cluster. It contained artwork from everywhere on Corneria, and from every time period. Works ranged from reconstructions of massive prehistoric cave paintings to postmodern nano-art, which could only be viewed through a microscope. Going through the entire musuem without stopping would take about a year, assuming you spent one minute at each work of art. Every year, a few devoted artists and critics attempted this very task.

Fox found himself sitting on its massive front steps at precisely noon, at the edge of the typical large crowd of art enthusiasts. It was cold that day, so he was wearing a new black jacket and his characteristic red scarf.

Many minutes passed by. Fox was starting to wonder if Wolf was just toying with him, or playing some bizarre prank, but finally he saw a tall gray-furred figure with an eyepatch jostling through the crowd.

Fox stood up and began sauntering over. He met Wolf just has he managed to extract himself from a tight bundle of neo-Surrealists, who wore more paint on their fur than clothing. Wolf had a disgusted look on his face as he tried to wipe paint from his severly outdated jacket.

"Hello there, Wolf," Fox began. "You're late."

"I know, sorry," Wolf replied. "I got lost."

"You got lost on your way to the largest museum on the planet?" Fox taunted.  
"You speak as if Corneria City was built in a logical pattern that made sense," Wolf answered.

"Fair point," Fox admitted. "Well, what did you have in mind?"

Wolf took out four tickets. "I got us into the Medieval section and the Early Space Age section. Sound good?"

"Like I said, I don't care," Fox replied. "You just see what you want and I'll answer your questions."

"Well, your first task is showing me how we get in without getting trampled," Wolf said, still attempting to wipe away the paint.

"That's a hard one," Fox said. "We just need to stick together and lay low."

"Not a bad strategy in general," Wolf commented. Fox said nothing as he turned to walk up the steps, and Wolf tagged closely behind.

The Medieval section was relatively small, as most nations on Corneria guarded their art from that period rather jealously. Wolf seemed overwhelmed nonetheless, Fox observed as he practically scampered through the exhibits, occasionally taking photos with his phone. He didn't even ask many questions.

Finally Wolf stopped at ceiling-high canvas. It depicted a group of five skeletons of various species dancing in a circle around a young dog, naked, on its knees. The dog was of rather ambiguous breed. Out of the dog's mouth grew a tree made of gold and silver, with fruit painted like precious gemstones.

"Mind explaining this one, Fox?" Wolf asked.

Fox's ears perked up. "Actually, I can! I learned it in school. The dog is Lintress, the savior of the Narrow Path religion. It was big in the medieval era but it's faded away now. This painting represents the resurrection of the dead in paradise, after the end of the world."

"Interesting..." Wolf said.

"I guess. I mean, do you really care? This is old stuff." Fox pointed out.

"I'm surprised how-what's the word-flippant you are about what you fought to protect," Wolf countered.

"That's not it! I care about the people alive now, not some dead religion," Fox huffed, then quited down when he attracted a group of angry stares from others in the hallway.

"But these people are alive now because of the past," Wolf said, not letting the thread go.

"What is your game with this?" Fox retorted. "Are you just trying to mess with me?"

"No, I'm not, I'm just trying to understand how you think," Wolf said. "You're so single-minded sometimes, you know?"

"I know. My Dad used to say that too," Fox said.

"Ah," Wolf said softly, but added nothing else.

Finally, they got to the Early Space Age artwork. The gallery was filled with massive paintings and reconstructions of the first rocketships, the first automated probes, portraits of the first astronauts, and artistic conceptions of what other planets might be like. Some were wildly off, but a few were shockingly accurate.

Wolf stopped in front of a wide panorama painting. He looked at the description posted to the side. Apparently it was made five hundred years ago, not long after Corneria's first manned expedition to one of its two moons.

However, the painting did not depict a moon landing. Instead it depicted a vast and intricate space battle, including ships that looked like carriers, dreadnoughts, and cruisers. A few even looked like Arwings and Wolfen, if you squinted. The glow of a nebula outlined the main action, and several planets were visible in the background to stitch the composition together. Wolf read the description next to it. Apparently it had been made as promotional material for an animated TV series which had later been lost two hundred years ago, when Lylat had flared unexpectedly and fried a great deal of Corneria's computer infrastructure. The painting was all that was left, that and a few handwritten scripts preserved by private collectors.

Fox had gone to get some water, and rejoined Wolf at the panorama. Unexpectedly, Wolf grabbed his hand without even looking. Fox's fur stood on end from surprise, but he thought better of resisting.

"Can you even imagine..." Wolf said.

"Imagine what?" Fox asked.

"Just, how it was like, before space travel was commonplace. How there was no way to know what lay out there in the Universe. But then, look at this! It's like someone took a picture from my cockpit, or yours."

Fox looked up at Wolf. Now _this_ was out of character for him. His eyes were wide, his jaw open slightly in wonder, his knees even seemed weak.

Fox tried to look at the painting the same way that Wolf was. _Perhaps I really should have paid more attention in history class_ , Fox considered.

They stared at the painting for a long time, the two of them taking separate paths to trace each detail. _Almost_ _like_ _the way I trace_ _the starcharts_ , Fox thought. Perhaps Wolf was more similar to him than he had realized.

Wolf moved his hand to adjust his jacket and blanched when he realized it was wrapped around Fox's. Fox gripped harder and looked into Wolf's eyes, the real one and the eyepatch awkwardly covering his cerebral interface. He grinned. Somehow holding Wolf's hand, and seeing his unexpected embarrassment, gave him a sensation of power which he hadn't felt for a long time.

"Oh, uh, sorry, whoops..." Wolf said meekly, trying to pull his hand back. Fox held on.

"Can't let you do that, Wolf," Fox said, winking.

Wolf nearly snapped at Fox, but thought better of it. "Is that how it is, then?" he teased instead.

"It is now, thanks to you," Fox answered.

Wolf sighed contentedly. This was working out better than he had expected.

After a few more hours of poring over reconstructions of ancient space probes, Wolf declared that he was hungry, and Fox guided him to the museum's cafe. Wolf ordered a huge bowl of soup, while Fox contented himself with a muffin and a cup of coffee.

The two ate in silence for quite some time, until Fox decided to ask some questions for a change.

"Say, Wolf, do you mind telling me what your life was like? We've already spent the day together; we should know about each other's lives."

"I'm sure that's all public knowledge on the Net now."

That was somewhat true, in fact. "I know, but I want to hear it from you," Fox insisted.

"Alright. Well, I grew up on Macbeth. It was alright, I guess. My parents died in the Civil War, though. After that, I was adopted by a couple on Venom. They were...not kind people. They were very wealthy, and they got me anything I wanted, but I think they saw me as more of a pet than a child. It was weird."

Fox was shocked. He hadn't actually known this. He almost felt...guilty?...for taking the loss of his father so strongly. After all, strictly speaking, Wolf seemed to have been through worse.

"Wow, I'm sorry," Fox said. "What happened after that?"

"Well, when I turned eighteen, I enrolled in the Venomian Flight Academy. Graduated with average marks. Then the Lylat War happened, and now here we are."

"Here we are indeed," Fox added.

"Actually, I met your Dad once," Wolf blurted. "And I remember when he died, too. It was, uh, in my final year at the Academy. It was all over the news. I actually held a vigil for him."

Fox gasped. "I've never heard any of this!"

"You wouldn't have. It was really just me and a few friend I've lost touch with now. Most Venomians only knew James McCloud from propaganda, so they just thought of him has an enemy."

"So you were really caught between worlds, huh?" Fox pondered.

"Yeah, I guess I was. Didn't think about it like it then, but yes," Wolf agreed.

"Wait, though, when exactly did you meet my Dad?" Fox asked.

"I was little. I think like, ten. It was shortly after my parents died in the Civil War. I was living in an overcrowded orphanage. Macbeth's Revolution Party had hired the old Star Fox to help clean up the mess, as it were, after their victory. James decided to see how it was on the ground, so he disguised himself and wandered the streets of Duncan City, offering gifts.

Fox's heart swelled with pride. He remembered his Dad talking about his missions to Macbeth, trying to keep people hopeful in the face of so much conflict and destruction.

"So what happened? Did he give you something?"

Wolf coughed. "Well, he went around and talked with everybody there. I mean _everybody_. He promised us that things would get better soon. We played soccer for a while. He gave us all these little tungsten Arwing models. Actually, I might have it still."

Wolf dug around in his jacket and, after going through half a dozen pockets, finally pulled out a small, battered, scratched, model of an Arwing fighter. He placed it carefully on the middle of the table.

Fox covered his mouth, and his eyes welled with tears. He placed his head on the table between his arms to avoid completely surrendering to his emotions.

"Wolf, I can't tell you how much this means to me. Knowing this...changes a lot," Fox said slowly, through muffled sobs.

Wolf's expression fell in concern. He had dealt with a lot of other people's emotions of the years, but this was something new. He had never had to comfort someone in grief, and he had never cared as much before either.

He got out of his chair and pulled up Fox into him, hugging him deeply.

"Aww, it's okay, it's okay..."

Wolf looked around. A few stodgy art critics were staring, with expression ranging from horrified to mildly disapproving. He snarled at them, and they turned around as if they hadn't seen anything.

Fox had calmed down by then, and disengaged from Wolf's embrace.

"Sorry about that..." Fox said.

"Don't be. This is heavy stuff," Wolf insisted.

"Thanks for...thank you," Fox continued. "It was comforting."

"No problem. It was nice for me too."

Fox gave Wolf a piercing look. He decided this had gotten far too emotional to continue in the Museum.

"Hey, uh, want to come back to my apartment with me?" Wolf asked awkwardly. "We can keep talking there."

Fox rubbed his eyes. "Oh, yeah, good idea."

Wolf grabbed Fox's hand again, and they walked off. Fox smiled. It was weird, but he was starting to enjoy Wolf.

A short tram ride later, and the two were standing in Wolf's small and well-kept apartment. Fox absorbed every detail he could. The decoration was very spartan, very simple and functional, very _Wolf O'Donnell_ , but it was nice. It was still somehow welcoming. Fox made a resolution to try to clean his apartment up later.

"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable," Wolf said, and Fox sat gingerly in a somewhat uncomfortable-looking wooden rocking chair.

"Do you want anything?" he offered, wiping some specks of dust off the counter. "Tea, coffee, beer...?"

"Tea would be nice," Fox said, and within a few minutes Wolf had produced two cups of hot tea, one for Fox and one for himself. Fox noted that Wolf had actually made the tea from real leaves, rather than getting it from the synthesizer. He supposed that Wolf had retained some taste for luxury that he had apparently acquired from his life on Venom. He thanked Wolf and took a sip. It was actually pretty good.

"Okay, so you've heard my story," Wolf said. "Now I want to hear yours."

Fox cleared his throat and melted into the chair.

"Alright," he began. "Uh, I was born on Corneria but we moved to Papetoon when I was young. Apparently a lot of people forget that. My Dad had joined the Cornerian Space Force when he was 18 and left at age 25 to form Star Fox. He set up its headquarters on Papetoon and met my Mom there."

"What did your Mom do?" Wolf asked.

"She was a biologist, actually. She studied the slime molds that grew in this one particular valley system," Fox explained.

"A biologist and a space fighter? That seems like an unlikely combination."

"Uh, yeah, it was definitely odd but they were actually a very good fit for each other."

"I see."

"So anyways, I grew up on Papetoon. It was a lot of fun. I got to do a lot of exploring on my own."

"Weren't you ever lonely?"

"Honestly, not really. I had my parents, and I didn't mind playing alone."

"Right."

"Then, uh, my Mom died when I was about twelve. It was some sort of rare disease."

"I'm so sorry," Wolf said.

"Thanks. For what it's worth, it seems like you went through worse," Fox pointed out.

"It's pointless to compare," Wolf said. "Though, actually, it's strange how similar our lives were in some ways."

"It's like we're mirror images of each other," Fox pontificated. "Or two words that rhyme."

"That's poetic," Wolf commented. "But continue."

"Oh, yeah. So after Mom died, Dad and I moved to Corneria. General Pepper agreed to give Star Fox certain privileges in exchange for using Space Dynamics as its supplier, and special deals for the Cornerian government."

"Makes sense."

"Yeah. I mean, there's not much else to say. I was kind of the odd kid out on Corneria, so I didn't have many friends. I put most of my effort into school. I knew I wanted to be a fighter pilot, so of course getting into the Flight Academy was pretty easy."

"Did you enjoy school?"

"Not really, but it made me stand out, and I enjoyed the praise."

Wolf chuckled. "You clearly had a lot of discipline, though. Unlike me."

"Uh, thanks, I think."

"You're welcome."

"So, then, of course, my Dad died, and you know the rest of the story," Fox concluded.

Wolf gave an understanding grunt.

"What?" Fox asked, sensing thoughts bubbling up underneath Wolf's exterior.

"Well, I mean I don't really know the rest of the story, not all of it, but I won't ask now," Wolf explained.

"I could say the same for you," Fox said.

"And so you could," Wolf agreed.

Fox suddenly had a moment of vertigo as he realized the absurdity of his situation. Was he really sitting across from his old enemy, the Scourge of Venom, Wolf O'Donnell? Drinking his tea and talking about his childhood, his parents, all his most personal thoughts and memories?

But this Wolf was different. This Wolf, he knew now, had met and respected his father James, and had even kept a gift from him as a memory. But Fox didn't feel quite comfortable with it all, not just yet. Perhaps Wolf had changed, and most of the evidence did point in that direction, but that didn't mean Fox was ready to surrender his doubts right now.

"So, actually," Wolf asked, startling Fox from his nervous reverie, "What have you been doing this past year or so, since the War ended?"

Fox groaned. "Nothing, actually. Nothing at all."

"What do you mean, nothing? That's not literally possible."

"I mean nothing. Eating and sleeping. I haven't had a job or been paid since the War ended. I just go to therapy and visit my friends when they call me over."

Wolf's expression went through at least a dozen emotions at once.

"Fox, you can't...you can't just do that. You need to do something with your life!"

"Oh, geez, not you too," Fox complained. "I already get enough of that from my therapist. And Falco, by the Stars."

Wolf got up and kneeled down next to Fox in his chair, so that their faces were right next to each other.

"Fox, I know you're in pain," Wolf said sternly. "I understand what you mean when you say you've lost everything. I know how it feels."

Fox gulped. He knew it was true. Wolf had certainly lived a harder life than his own, overall.

"And what do you suggest? That I just magically start feeling better!?" Fox retorted, hopping out of the chair.

Wolf just stood up again calmly, and put a shoulder on Fox.

"No," Wolf said. "I know that it's never that easy. But you've got to do something. Anything. And I mean anything."

"You're not saying anything my therapist hasn't," Fox said, grabbing Wolf's arm and throwing it away from him. "You've had a hard life but you don't know how _I'm_ feeling right now. You don't know how to fix me."

Wolf's arms hung limp at his side and he whimpered in response to Fox's outburst.

"Look, you're right," Wolf said, still not meeting Fox's eyes. "You're right, I don't know how to fix you. But I want to. You deserve so much better than this."

Fox folded his arms, as if to wrap himself up. Wolf sounded disconcertingly sincere. What was his agenda here? Or did he even have one?

"Don't tell me what to do," Fox huffed with all the anger he could muster, but it just came out weak and tired.

"Right, of course," Wolf said. He was looking at Fox again now, with a more even expression. "But you, you owe it to yourself to have a good life, after all that's happened. You owe it to your Dad. And your friends. Not even me. Just you."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this from you," Fox said, but it was only partly to Wolf. Why couldn't the Universe ever make sense? Why had it taken to confounding him like this, ever since that day three years ago when he learned that his Dad had died?

"Someone had to say it. It didn't have to be me, but turns out it is," Wolf argued, turning his palms up as if he had no control in the matter.

Fox didn't even know what to make of that. He was tired and confused and wanted to go home now.

"Look, Wolf, thanks for today, but I need to get home. I need to think about things. This is all too much right now."

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Sorry," Wolf whimpered again.

"Goodbye, then," Fox said, walking quickly out the door and nearly slamming it.

Once Fox was back in his apartment, he pulled up the starcharts again to calm down. But he stopped once he got to Teris, and its planet Venom. The planet looked different now, somehow, now that he knew about Wolf's life there. It looked more real. Fox stared at contours of Venom's slightly acidic seas for a few more seconds, then flicked over to Ferrule, sun of the gentle world of Katina. And then Dekhura again...

Wolf stared at his tea, which had now gotten cold. He hadn't had any more since Fox stormed out. _Maybe I was too pushy_ , he thought to himself. _Maybe I really shouldn't contact him anymore._

No. No, he couldn't take that now. Wolf had too much momentum now.

 _Maybe I'll just try something else._


	7. Cirrus

Chapter 7: Cirrus

Fox woke up and found that Wolf had written him a long message. Fox opened it out of reluctant fascination.

[[Hey Fox, I'm sorry about last night. I really didn't mean to freak you out so much. You're right, though, it's a lot to take in. You may not believe me but it hurts me to see you in such despair like this. You may not care about me, but you're the only person on Corneria I know and respect. I just want to see if we can be friends, since everything is different now. Since you went to the Museum with me, I wanted to thank you somehow with something you might enjoy more. Would you like to go to the shooting range with me? Maybe today or tomorrow? I don't know about you, but all my personal weapons were confiscated by the Council, and I miss being able to shoot things. I'm sure the range would let me buy some guns for us, though.

If all this is too much for you, and you never want to see me again, then that's fine too. I'll be sad, but I'll understand. Just let me know. Please.

-Sincerely, Wolf O'Donnell.]]

Fox considered. At this point he was pretty sure that Wolf had no hidden agenda. If he had wanted to kill Fox for some reason, he could have done so a long time ago. If he had wanted to torture Fox, well, he could have done a lot of things differently. If he had wanted anything at all, really, he could have taken it already.

Wolf was just being sentimental, nostalgic... _clingy_ , Fox realized. _Clingy_. _Wolf_. Fox giggled to himself a bit. It was a strange revelation but it explained a lot. He made a reply.

[[Hey, Wolf, I should apologize too. You clearly have nothing to hide, and I guess I was being paranoid. I do appreciate you inviting me to the Museum, and I'm glad I was able to learn about you. Your respect means a lot to me. Maybe we can be friends after all.

I'd love to go the shooting range tomorrow. My weapons were confiscated as well. Funny how the Council is treating is both the same way. I'll see you then.

-Fox McCloud.]]

Fox sent it and his heart tightened. He was feeling more amenable to Wolf now, but still hoped this didn't become a massive trainwreck. Fox's phone dinged almost immediately.

[[Fox, it's fine, I entirely understand. I'm glad I got to learn about you as well. Yeah the Council is pretty odd, but I guess we can worry about that later. I found there's a range close to you, so I'll come over and pick you up in the morning if that's okay. Sound good?]]

Fox smiled ever so slightly. It was as if he was in high school again, making weekend plans with his friends. Only now his friend was Wolf! He made a reply.

[[Yep, definitely! See you then!]]

[[Awesome! See you!]]

Sure enough, Wolf showed up at Fox's door early the next morning. Fox had actually made an effort to adjust his sleep schedule so he was, to his own amazement, dressed and ready to go by then.

Fox appraised the rangemaster immediately once they got to the range. He was young (well, older than Fox but young in a relative sense), but he carried himself with seriousness and discipline. Maybe he had never seen combat, but he clearly had a committment to understanding the arts of fighting and war. If Fox and Wolf were not careful about their appearances, he might even recognize them.

"Sorry," the rangemaster said, "but you two are marked as forbidden from buying a gun."

"Couldn't we at least rent a couple?" Wolf asked disappointedly.

"No, sorry, I don't think so," he said, shaking his head. "Look, I know it's stupid. I hate this new government as much as you two seem to, but I don't want to lose my business."

"Speaking of that..." Fox piped up, suddenly inspired. "Do you happen to know who we are? Just curious."

"Well now, should I?" the rangemaster asked tiredly. He had seen far too many arrogant, hot-headed customers in his time.

"Here, maybe this will help," Fox continued, taking off his cap and shawl to expose his glimmering cerebral interface, snaking across his head. He posed and bared his teeth the way he had seen himself drawn on the propaganda posters.

The rangemaster did a double-take. "Fox McCloud!? No way! Let me see that," he said, touching Fox's interface gently. He could tell it was real, and his face widened a bit in awe.

"Oh, shit..." the rangemaster whispered after a minute. "Then you must be..." he said, turning a bit to Wolf.

"The one and only," Wolf said, smiling and taking off his eyepatch to reveal the piercing red light of his own interface.

"By the Stars! How did you two end up here!?" the rangemaster stammered, his jaw halfway open. "And you're friends now!? What the hell happened?"

"It's a simple story, really," Fox said, enjoying his small moment of fame perhaps a bit too much.

"The Council doesn't actually care about either of us. They took away our guns and our registrations, sure, but otherwise let us go. They just don't want us to cause trouble."

"...I see..."

"Wolf here lost everything in the War, just like me. He's looking to make a new life for himself. So, since we already know each other, why not be friends?"

"Hm, makes sense," the rangemaster agreed. "Did you guys even _try_ to kill each other at all, though?"

"I nearly did," Wolf said suddenly, but with a joking tone. "Only because this moron here made me spill my drink once!" He made a show of laughing and patting Fox on the back.

"Wow," the rangemaster said in an indeterminate tone. "Well, I guess I'll never understand the world you mercenaries live in, but that's not my place. I just follow from the outside. Just know," the rangemaster regained his serious expression and looked between both Fox and Wolf, locking eyes with each in turn, "Know that I still respect you with all my heart. Both of you. If Fox can be your friend, Wolf, then so can I. And there are other people on Corneria who still respect you both too. Don't forget it."

Fox smiled elatedly. He hadn't realized how much better that made him feel. "Thank you, sir. I appreciate that."

"We really do," Wolf chimed in. "You can't imagine. We don't know your world either, but I think Fox and I will agree that we hope to never disappoint you, or any of those who still respect us."

"I have faith in you two," the rangemaster said, smiling a bit more casually now.

"Now, about those guns," he continued, producing two 7th-generation blasters from nowhere and placing them carefully on the counter. He also produced two holsters and extra energy packs. "These are yours, free of charge. Don't ask. It's the least I can do."

Fox and Wolf glanced at each other, and then silently put on the holsters and guns.

"We can't thank you enough," Fox said, saluting the rangemaster.

"You are more than welcome. Have fun." With that, the rangemaster gave them a key to the range, gave a mighty salute, and left to go to the storeroom. They could see that he was tearing up a bit.

"Well, you heard him. Let's go shoot," Wolf said, walking to the range. Fox tagged behind.

Conveniently, the range was empty that day. Fox went right away to setting up the targets, while Wolf examined the gun for a while. He wasn't familiar with the Cornerian designs, and it took him a moment to balance it perfectly in his hand.

"You first," Fox said, interrupting Wolf. Fox waved an arm to the targets, both paper and holographic, and Wolf smiled in genuine pleasure. Fox had set up a difficult course.

"Why thank you, Fox," Wolf said, adopting his typical ostentatious pose for shooting, and taking down the targets. He found he had gotten a little unsteady, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

"Nice job," Fox commented when Wolf walked back to the recharging area. "Though I expected better."

"So did I, honestly," Wolf admitted. "Care to show me up?"

"You know it," Fox agreed, posing himself like a mannequin and taking down the targets as precisely as he could. Yet even he missed a few. A small screen added their scores, which turned out to be identical, to the "Highest Achievers" board.

"Wow, I've gotten terrible," Fox lamented, putting his gun down solemnly. "We...we need to work on this, Wolf."

"Strictly speaking, we're still light-years better than the average Venomian trooper, you know," Wolf pointed out. "And I'll bet the Cornerians too."

"Still, this would be a good thing to do. And weren't you just telling me I needed something to do?"

"I guess I was."

The unlikely pair stayed in the range for a couple more hours, honing particular maneuvers and discussing their own unique tricks. They left only after the entry of another shooter.

"Hm, I don't want to home yet. Want to just take a walk for a while, Wolf?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, sure? Where to?"

"I don't know, anywhere. Let's wander. I just want to move my legs a bit."

"Okay. Lead the way, then."

Fox stepped slightly ahead of his companion and motioned towards a bridge that connected several nearby towers by means of a large enclosed plaza in the middle. They were about 700 meters above ground level, and the wind tore at them as they ran across to the plaza.

The plaza was typical of Corneria City: wide, clear and open, with a burnished metal floor and diamond windows, cut into irregular triangles and arranged in precise mathematical patterns. Fox didn't take time to consider where he was, or where the other paths led. He realized he hadn't actually taken a good look at his own city in quite a while, and wanted to take it in all over again. Fox figured that Wolf wouldn't mind his slow pace, since he was seeing it all for the first time anyways.

The crowd around them was quite typical for Corneria as well, consisting mostly of various breeds of canines dressed in heavy but elegant clothing, several types of avians dressed in somewhat lighter garb, and a few reptiles and amphibians in perhaps the most diverse types of dress.

Finally Fox picked another bridge and strolled towards it. Wolf, who had strayed to the edge to look down at the lower towers, jogged a bit to catch back up to him.

Fox continued walking quietly, though he swore that Wolf nearly tried to grab his hand a couple of times.

"Say, Wolf, you mentioned that you're a construction worker now," Fox asked tentatively.

"Oh, yeah, right," Wolf said. "What about it?"

"Well, can you show me your work? What exactly do you do?" Fox continued, his voice showing more curiousity than Wolf had expected.

"Sure, sure," Wolf responded. "It's not really that interesting. I fly pre-fab walls and modules up to buildings under construction."

"I think that sounds cool. And you get to fly," Fox said wistfully.

Wolf chuckled. "Yeah, that's true. It's not exactly like a dogfight, though."

"Sure, but it must be nice," Fox insisted.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"So? Can you take me?" Fox requested, with much more enthusiasm than Wolf ever expected.

"Um, alright. I'm not in the schedule today but I'm sure they'll let me do something for me to show you, at least."

"Sounds good. Thanks, Wolf."

"No problem. Let's go to the mill, then. It's pretty far, though. On the outskirts of the city."

Wolf stepped ahead and quickened his pace, and Fox followed him to the nearest tram station.

The pre-fab mill was just as large as Fox might have expected, but it was much more quiet. Wolf guided him into the enormous sheet-metal structure into a maze of pipes, wires, and switches that linked a bewildering array of machines. The machines hummed and droned, dinging every so often when one of their inscrutable tasks was completed, and they were serviced every so often by robots, or even a real person.

"Wow, is it normally so lonely here?" Fox asked.

"Normally, yes," Wolf replied. "Sometimes we get a lot of orders, and bring on temporary contractors, but most of the work is fully automated."

Finally they reached a large diamond-walled enclosure sunken into an internal wall. Fox watched as solid building panels, illuminated by orange hazard lights, were directed into the enclosure.

"I wish I could watch them actually condense the panels, but it's not really safe," Wolf remarked.

"Condense?" Fox asked, uncomprehending.

"Yeah, they make the panels by condensing them directly from silicon carbide plasma. It's kind of wild."

Fox whistled in appreciation. Wolf's strange sense of wonder was starting to make more sense to him.

"Alright, wait here," Wolf said suddenly. "I'll go to the foreman and ask if there's anything I can do today.

"Alright, Wolf."

Fox waited by the enclosure, watching as robots engraved basic circuitry and plumbing directly into the panels. Wolf came back a few minutes later with a handful of papers and a metal key.

"I got something!" he exclaimed. "There's a prefab office module we can deliver. Sound good?"

"Sure," Fox affirmed.

"Let's go, then."

Wolf ran out to the other side of the mill, where finished panels and modules were stored.

Fox frowned a bit when he saw the delivery vehicle. It was large and clunky, and looked at least thirty years old. It even had ducted fans to supplement the more typical antigravity thrusters.

"No way," Fox said. "You deliver this stuff in that giant tin can? How does it even fit in the city?!"

"Oh, you'll see," Wolf assured him. "Hop in and let me surprise you."

"Ugh," Fox replied, but he pulled himself into the passenger seat regardless. Wolf hopped in to the pilot's seat, flipped a few switches, and inserted the metal key into a slot.

The machine lurched and groaned, but finally roared to life. Fox gritted his teeth, but Wolf grinned madly. He pulled a stick down next to him, and the craft ascended into the air.

To Fox's amazement, Wolf managed to get it stable in only a few seconds. He inched it gingerly over the module, and robots emerged to tie it down. Wolf gave another pull on the stick, and they lurched up again, now with the module swinging under them. Fox's eyes widened to near-perfect circles.

Wolf gave him a concerned glance, and Fox realized that he had to laugh at himself. This was so far down on his list of dangerous experiences that it barely qualifed. Yet he was still perturbed for some reason.

"I miss my Arwing. It was _not_ like this," Fox concluded out loud.

"I miss my Wolfen too, but this is a fun change of pace, isn't it?" Wolf replied, nearly cackling in response to Fox's antics.

"Speak for yourself," Fox said. "I still can't believe you would deign to fly this tin can."

"You need to loosen up a bit," Wolf argued, bringing his craft to a steady pace forward.

Before long, they were at Corneria City proper. Wolf actually did struggle a bit to maneuver the module through some of the arches and skyscrapers, but Fox admired the care and patience that he put into the task. Before long, the module was snapped and welded into its proper tower, and Wolf lifted away unencumbered.

It was getting late, and Lylat was beginning to dip into the horizon, splattering the sky with pinks, oranges, and yellows of infinite hues.

"Wait," Fox said, grabbing Wolf's hand on the control stick.

"Huh?" Wolf's eye jerked over to his companion, worried if Fox felt uncomfortable.

"Why can't we just...stay here and watch the sunset for a while?" Fox suggested.

"Hm, I like that idea," Wolf said. "The foreman is gonna yell at me, but I don't care."

"Good," Fox said, tightening his grip on Wolf's hand without even thinking about it. Wolf released his hand from the stick and interlaced their fingers.

Fox looked down at his hand, strangely thrilled to see it nestled with Wolf's. He was ecstatic to feel the other man's nails dig slightly into his wrist, and even perceive his slow breaths as he gazed at the sunset. Fox had no idea what Wolf was thinking, but he didn't feel like asking.

Finally as the last drops of sunlight bled away, Wolf pulled his hand out from Fox's with a certain reluctance, and re-engaged the craft.

"I'm going to drop you off at your apartment," Wolf explained. "That way you don't have to see the foreman yell at me."

"Uh, okay. Thanks, Wolf. I appreciate it."

"No problem. I'm glad you thought of this. It was fun."

"It was."

"I hope you weren't really too scared to fly in this tin can."

"Heh, no, no, it was...interesting."

"Good. Well, let me take you home."

Almost despite himself, Fox brushed his hand against Wolf's arm as he hopped out of the vehicle onto the top of his apartment building. He could swear that Wolf shivered a bit, but still he made no comment.

"Have a good night, Wolf. I hope the foreman isn't too mean."

"I'll be fine. You have a good night too, Fox."


	8. Trespassers W

Chapter 8: Trespassers W

Fox found himself in Wolf's aparment again just a few days later, drinking tea just like last time. Now, of course, they were much more relaxed. They had spent most of the morning deep in conversation, relating to each other their own perspectives on the Lylat Wars. The two laughed and cried until they were exhausted.

"So, Fox," Wolf said, eager for something lighter to discuss, "if you don't mind me asking, have you ever had any romantic relations? Any significant others?"

Fox looked at Wolf quizzically. It was an innocent question, he supposed, but it did through sheer accident bring up one of Fox's deepest, darkest secrets.

Fox trusted Wolf now as a friend, but he still couldn't believe he would just tell him this. Hell, he had never told anyone outside of his Dad, Peppy, and the other members of Star Fox. Fox didn't know exactly how big the drama would be if his secret got out, but he was sure it would be far too much for him to handle. There would be no legal consequence on Corneria per se, but the societal and cultural obstacles could be enormous.

Fox decided against himself to tell the truth. "No, no. Look, I don't want to talk about this, but I want to be honest with you. No point in keeping secrets."

"Fox, you can tell me anything. You know that."

Fox breathed in deeply. "Alright. I've never had any romantic relationships, because I'm...well...I'm attracted to men."

Wolf just looked at Fox dumbly. "So, what? Lots of people are gay. What's the problem there?"

"No, Wolf, not here. Not on Corneria. I'm a horrible fluke," Fox said breathlessly, pulse increasing practically out of instinct.

"No, you're not! What are you even talking about?" Wolf pleaded.

Fox sighed deeply. He had had to do way too much research to understand it himself, and he didn't relish having to explain it. He was actually a bit surprised Wolf didn't already know.

"Okay, so it turns out, 300 years ago there was a population crash on Corneria. Some new life-extension technique accidentally reduced fertility. Apparently, they weren't sure what caused it, so as a temporary fix they made a new genetic therapy that made sure everyone was, uh, cisgender, and straight. It was fixed later, but the culture just kinda continued."

Wolf's face broke out in a horrified expression, like some small hole had just ripped open within the deepest corner of his mind.

"Holy shit, Fox, I didn't know that. That is truly, truly despicable. I can't even imagine...how did you deal with it!?"

"I...didn't really think about it much. I didn't have a chance. And there are a few gay clubs and whatnot here. It's just very secretive."

"Stars, Fox, if I had grown up on this planet then I would have exploded!" Wolf declared. "I can't believe Corneria's government has been controlling the population like that. It's heinous!"

"Not the government, not really," Fox pointed out. "The government never had an official position on the matter. Not even the Fifth Republic before General Pepper. It's something everyone does."

"I don't care. Still gives me the creeps. I can't believe I didn't know this," Wolf said.

"It's not something we talk about. I had no idea Venom was so libertine," Fox replied.

"I wouldn't call Venom libertine, but I can tell you, nobody cares what gender you are, or what you like," Wolf explained.

"I see," Fox said, trying to wrap his head around it all.

Wolf's mind was still reeling, almost terrified at this new cultural rift he had never even considered. But that's what interested him, wasn't it? This was how he survived. He was amazed that Cornerian culture was so monolithic and controlling, and that Fox, through some extreme fluke of genetics, had fallen into such a strange, unique loneliness.

"By all the Stars, Fox, I had no idea you were so trapped. That is awful," Wolf said after a minute.

"I know," Fox said dejectedly. "I mean, I'm sure I could find another man in theory, but they would never understand. Not the War, not my Dad, nothing like that. So there's really no point."

"There must be a few gay soldiers out there," Wolf suggested. "Or something."

"Uh, yes, but I haven't had any luck. The soldiers are way too flashy for me."

Wolf grunted in understanding. Venom's armed forces were similarly ostentatious.

"So, what about you, Wolf?" Fox asked quickly, eager to deflect attention from himself. "What was your romantic life like?"

"Oh geez," Wolf groaned. "Uh, like I said, my foster parents didn't really care what I did, so I had a new significant other about every other month. I had a lot of dumb relationships and caused a lot of drama. I regret it now, I really do. It was stupid. I was stupid."

"Wow, okay then," Fox said. "So you had the exact opposite experience from me, and you were just as miserable anyways."

Wolf chuckled, and patted Fox's shoulder. He wasn't sure he would ever understand Fox's singular misery, but he was reassured by his willingness to compare them.

"Ah, I dunno," Wolf said. "I thought it was just how life was back then. I didn't know any better until...until now, I guess."

"Wait, so just to be sure," Fox asked, "Which gender are you attracted to?"

"All of them," Wolf replied. "Gender doesn't matter to me."

A shock of realization suddenly swept through Fox. Something clicked in his mind and he felt mental chains that he had shackled himself with for years simply melt away. But he still wasn't free yet.

Wolf's mouth twitched. It seemed that he was starting to reach the same conclusion.

Fox examined his hands, and hummed to himself a bit.

"Fox, my goodness though," Wolf stammered suddenly. "We need to do something for you! I can't let you suffer like this! Have you ever even had sex with anyone?"

"No," Fox said simply. "Actually, Falco offered one time but I refused."

"Ha! That's kind of adorable."

"Yeah. Falco's so hard sometimes but he's a good person."

"I can tell. Back on topic though. Getting you a relationship."

"Wolf, no," Fox insisted. "I'm fine. It can't happen. Nobody would understand."

Wolf retreated for a moment, looking off to empty space. Should he? There was only one way to find out. He inhaled slowly and dramatically.

"Hey, Fox, what about me?" Wolf suggested, trying to muster an easy grin. "I understand you, right? And gender doesn't matter to me."

And now Fox was free. He was falling without direction through a space in his heart he had never imagined existed. There was no way back now.

Even now, Fox felt a small part of him recoil a bit. Wolf's life had been so different from his own, and he had been his enemy for so long. He was at a very different stage in life even now, and his personality was entirely unlike Fox's.

But Wolf was right. Nobody else would understand Fox the same way. His other friends knew and loved him, of course, but that's what they were-friends. Wolf had even known his father, however briefly.

Fox imagined in a flash how it might all play out. There would be disagreements, surely. There would be conflicts and compromises and failures to communicate. But that's how all relationships worked, right? Even his mother and father had argued from time to time. So maybe, just maybe, it was worth a shot.

Fox attempted to say something, but he was swept away in the flood of his own emotions. He just curled up in his chair and breathed deeply.

Wolf got up and went over to Fox, afraid that he had put his younger companion through too much emotional turmoil already.

"Hey, Fox," he said, putting a hand on Fox's arm and pushing it gently down so that he could see Fox's eyes, "I'm sorry if I was too pushy just then. It was just me thinking out loud, we don't have to..."

"No, no, I think-I think maybe you're right." Fox whispered. "I mean, when we held hands the other day I wasn't sure..."

"Oh!" Wolf laughed. "I, uh, I should have asked then. I wasn't even sure if holding hands was common in Corneria but now I know the whole picture."

Fox sighed and uncurled himself. "Yeah. Well, I'm glad I had someone to share it with. And you see what a bad situation this puts me in."

Wolf hummed a moment. "No kidding. But like you said, couldn't you just move to Katina or Zoness? You could start a new life all over again! What's tying you here?"

"I don't know," Fox realized. "I mean, Falco and Slippy, of course. And I grew up here. But I guess I really could make a new life for myself now, couldn't I?"

"You sure can!" Wolf declared encouragingly. "Nothing's stopping you."

Fox stood up from his chair as well, next to Wolf, and took his hand.

"What about you though?" Fox asked. "What life are you going to make for yourself? 'Cause I think, maybe we should try this out for a while."

"Try what out?" Wolf asked.

"Us," Fox replied, suddenly hugging his taller companion. "I think I need you now, Wolf. Truly."

Wolf's heart skipped a beat. He hugged back, and nestled his muzzle in Fox's shoulder.

"I think I need you too, Fox."

The two stood together for several minutes in silence, each taking the other's unique curves and angles, the tempo of their breaths and the texture of their fur.

"So, what do we do now?" Fox asked.

"What do you mean?" Wolf replied. "Like, with our lives? Or today?"

"I guess today," Fox said. "I mean, if we're going to be boyfriends we should go on a date or something."

"Didn't the shooting range count, at least?" Wolf teased.

"Of course," Fox insisted. "But that was different. Let's do something a bit more romantic."

"You know, I didn't really take you to be a romantic person," Wolf remarked.

"There's, ah, a first try for everything, right?" Fox stammered.  
Wolf grinned. "Of course! What do you want to do?"

"I'm not sure," Fox admitted. "What did you normally do on your dates?"

"Hm, back on Venom I'd normally impress them with a fancy restaurant or an opera theater but I don't really feel like that right now."

"Yeah, me neither. I'd feel out of place, and I don't have any good clothes," Fox agreed.

Wolf grunted approval, but had nothing else to offer to the discussion.

"Wait, I know what we should do!" Fox exclaimed, suddenly inspired. "Do you have a big towel or blanket?"

"Um, how big?" Wolf asked uncertainly.

"Big enough for the two of us, of course," Fox said.

Wolf smiled and walked over to his small closet, picking out a couple of blue towels and a thin but expansive green blanket.

"Would these work for whatever you're thinking of?"

"Definitely."

Fox walked over to the door and beckoned eagerly.

"Come on, let's go!"

"Okay, Fox. Lead the way," Wolf said lightly, trailling his new boyfriend. _The first real one_ , he thought. _Yes, he's the only one that really matters to me now._

A few minutes later, the two were situated in a dingy car rental place. Fox made arrangements with a wiry otter woman while Wolf, towels and blanket slung in a bag over his shoulder, browsed the tourist brochures and directories, which he found quite amusing.

"You're renting a car just for today? Where on Corneria are we going?"

"I want it to be a surprise for you," Fox explained.

"Alright," Wolf said, smiling in amusment. He actually was having trouble imagining what Fox had in mind.

"Here we are," Fox declared, holding a key and walking swiftly out to the car lot. Wolf had to sprint momentarily to keep up.

The car was a recent model, compact and efficient, though Fox found himself getting nervous regardless.

"What's wrong?" Wolf asked when he saw Fox hesitating in the driver's seat.

"Oh, it's just...I haven't flown or driven anything in so long. I'm out of practice."

"You'll be fine, Fox. That stuff doesn't leave you, you know."

Fox straightened himself up. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks."

Wolf replied by putting a hand on Fox's arm.

Fox put the key in its slot, and the two took off into the still night.

"Okay Fox, _please_ tell me where we are going," Wolf said, as they had been flying over uninhabited forest far from the City for half an hour by then.

"We're almost there," Fox replied, and indeed within a few minutes they descended onto a wooden platform built between several extremely large and old trees.

"Okay, but what is this place?" Wolf asked, now a little annoyed, as they hopped out of the car.

"It's...well-it's Peppy's old safe house," Fox answered.

"Safe house? Are mercenaries not safe on Corneria?"

"They haven't always been. And it's best to be prepared."

"I see."

Fox slipped over onto a small wooden bridge that led to a treehouse, and Wolf trailed behind, admiring the trees. There had been none quite so lush and verdant on Venom.

After a minute by the trees, Wolf stepped into the small treehouse to find that it did, indeed, disguise a very safe and well-fortified house. Fox was wandering around the enclosure, opening the numerous cabinets and closets to reveal alarming quantities of guns, all in quite good condition. Fox inspected each gun briefly to ensure it was still in working order. Wolf wasn't sure he had seen so many guns in one place outside of a Venomian armory, and certainly not as many different kinds.

"I see that Peppy was a well-prepared individual," Wolf remarked.

"That he was. Always," Fox agreed.

"Wait, Wolf, did you ever meet him? When you met my Dad?" Fox wondered, perhaps wistfully.

"No, sorry, I never knew Peppy. Though I wish I had," Wolf responded. "So this is what you wanted me to see?"

"No, not exactly," Fox said. "There's an observation platform over there, and I thought we could just...lay down and watch the stars for a while. This is the only place I knew where it's dark enough. I know it's not much but it seemed like something you might like."

"Oh Fox," Wolf sighed, smiling at the sentimentality of it all. "It's a perfect idea."

Fox smiled back excitedly. "Ah, I'm glad you like it. Let's go then."

The two walked up the narrow staircase onto a small platform just at the top of the trees. Insects were buzzing softly, and Corneria City glowed in the distance, from here looking like a giant gumdrop of multicolored lights.

Wolf took out the towels and spread them out on the platform, next to each other. Fox lay down on one, folding his arms so that his hand supported his neck. Wolf lay down next to him, ramrod straight the way he used to sleep in his Wolfen from time to time.

"You know, Fox, I don't think I've ever just lain down and looked at the stars before," Wolf whispered.

"Really? You must have at some point," Fox whispered back.

"No, really. I mean I'd look out in space, of course, but not on the surface of a planet."

"Not even when you were a kid, on Macbeth?"

"There was too much light pollution."

"Ah."

"But I'm really glad I can do it now."

"Good. Me too."

Wolf shuffled closer to Fox and put a hand on his chest, but he could feel Fox tense up immediately.

"Ah, sorry," Wolf said quickly, retracting his hand.

"No, no, it's fine," Fox insisted. "I'm just...nervous, you know?"

"Of course," Wolf replied. "We can go at whatever pace you want to."

"Thanks, Wolf," Fox murmured. "I appreciate it."

Fox tentatively extended a hand over to Wolf as well, feeling his broad shoulders and lanky chest. In only a moment their hands met, and they clasped them together tightly. The new boyfriends chuckled, and their eyes drifted together to the infinite sky above.

"Wait, look, a shooting star!" Fox declared a few minutes later, and indeed a long yellow line had erupted across the sky.

"That was beautiful," Wolf remarked.

"We should come out when there's a whole meteor shower," Fox suggested.

"That would be wonderful," Wolf agreed. "Sorry, the stars look a bit different than on Venom, but is that constellation the Great Plow?"

"Oh, no, that's part of the Waterwheel. See the spokes?"

"Oh, yeah."

"The Great Plow is actually over there," Fox gestured widely with his index finger. "But they do look similar, don't they?"

"Yeah. That's the Silver Sword, though, right?"

"Yes! And there's Emperor Vardek holding it."

"Emperor Vardek? We definitely don't have that constellation on Venom."

"Uh, see those five stars? That's the crown. The little cluster down below is his muzzle."

"Oh, okay."

A few moments of silence, as the stars shone and the leaves rustled in the wind. Wolf wasn't sure he had ever realized the Galaxy was so bright.

"Uh, Fox?"

"What is it, Wolf?"

"Thank you. For taking me out here. I couldn't imagine a better first date."

"Aw, Wolf," Fox stammered, grabbing Wolf's closer arm with both hands. "That means so much to me."

The two stayed outside for several more hours, until it got colder and Fox decided that he would prefer the warmth of a bed.

The two made their way to the small bed in the safe house, but Fox paused before getting in.

"Actually, I didn't really think this through," Fox admitted. "First of all, it feels weird that the two of us are going to sleep in Peppy's bed. And second of all, do you mind sleeping together?"

"I don't know what to say about that, honestly," Wolf said. "I think-I'm sure Peppy would just want you to be happy, no matter what. I can sleep on the ground here if you want."

Fox shivered a bit. "No, no, don't do that. You're right. He'd be fine with this," he muttered, half to himself as he crawled into the bed. "Come on, Wolf."

"He's at peace now," Wolf assured Fox, climbing in under the covers. He gently touched Fox's muzzle and turned it so that they were facing eye to eye, across from each other. "And you need to find yours."

"I think I have," Fox said, yawning quietly, pulling Wolf closer to him.

Wolf's heart skipped a beat, and he wanted to keep talking, but Fox was on the verge of falling asleep. Instead he simply wrapped his arms around Fox and let sleep overtake him.


	9. Voyager

Chapter 9: Voyager

Fox awoke at dawn the next morning feeling more refreshed than he had in a long time. He jumped when he saw Wolf's face next to his, and his long gray arms still wrapped around him.

Fox's heart did quiet somersaults. He had never really imagined himself even being so close to another man before, and his mind was awash in the ecstasy of merely sleeping in bed together. He buried his muzzle in Wolf's shoulder, taking in his distinctive scent, something like charcoal or fresh sawdust. Summoning his courage, he shifted his arms and deposited a kiss ever so gently on Wolf's cheek.

Wolf's eyes slid open in response. "WellllgoodmorningFox," he slurred. His chest expanded under the action, and Fox blushed as he admired the curve and twist of the taller man's sinewey torso.

"Aha, eh, uuuh, good morning, Wolf," Fox replied, still floundering under the overwhelming sensory input.

"Gee, are you feeling okay?" Wolf asked with a soft smile, but he sat up straight and his bright red eyes seemed to look over Fox as if he were a fragile vase.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm fine. It's just kind of overwhelming. I've never slept with someone in the same bed before. I mean I guess I've slept with Falco and Slippy before but that's different of course."

"I guess it is overwhelming, isn't it?" Wolf mused. He couldn't remember the first time he'd slept together with a romantic partner-but those were all in the past now, anyways.

"Is there something I can do to help you feel more at ease?" Wolf asked.

"Eh, I dunno," Fox said, now staring intensely at the bed sheets. "I'll just try to feel less nervous over time."

Wolf crossed his arms. "Fox, you don't have to _try_ anything. Whatever you feel like doing, it should just come naturally to you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you don't have to act a certain way just to try to please me. You don't have to rush. I like you just how you are. But again, is there anything that _I_ can do?"

"No, no, I like you how you are too," Fox assured his new boyfriend.

"You're too kind, Fox," Wolf replied.  
"You're too modest," Fox countered, and the two fell into silence for a few moments, as the birds chirped outside and the early morning sunlight crept into the room.

The chatter of birds was cut by Wolf's stomach growling.

"Oh, sorry," Fox said. "I don't think there's any food here. We'll have to go back to Corneria City."

"No problem. Hey, Fox, why don't we go to your place? I still haven't seen it yet."

Fox gulped. "Heh, I'd prefer not. It's kind of a mess."

"What? Why?" Wolf asked, taken aback. Even in the dance club, Fox had been quite clean and well-dressed.

"...It just is," Fox said. "I haven't exactly had any reason to clean it."

Wolf got out of the bed and began putting his clothes back on. "Well, how about I come over and help you clean it now?"

Fox considered a moment, following Wolf out of bed.

"Really, you don't have to. It's embarrassingly messy. I'll just go back and clean up and you can do something else," he said while jumping back into his own clothes.

"No, Fox, I insist. You've been feeling down lately. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself."

"Hm, okay. I do appreciate it."

Wolf shook Fox lightly by the shoulders, grinning. "Of course! It'll be fun. We get to be domestic already!"

Fox slapped a palm on his face. "Oh by the Stars, you're right. I don't know if I'm ready for that."

Wolf chuckled. "Don't worry, we can figure it out together."

Fox took a deep breath, shook himself off, and looked up at Wolf. "You're right. Let's go."

Fox strolled for a long time around Peppy's safe house, cleaning and organizing as much as he could. He bowed to his knees when he finally left. Wolf followed suit. The two hopped into the car and took off back to Corneria City.

It was unusually warm that day, and and the sky glowed a deep, vivid blue. Fox drove the car close to the forest canopy, admiring the rippling cirrus clouds above him while Wolf gazed at the shrinking shadows of the trees below.

"You still don't have to help me clean up," Fox repeated as they sped to the city. "I wouldn't sink to the level of having a friend have to do that for me, much less a boyfriend."

"Fox, it's not like that," Wolf insisted, trying to recline as much as he could in the cramped car set.

"It's fine to have your pride, but you should let people help you out every once in a while."

Fox sighed. "I guess you're right. Maybe I should've taken some of Falco's advice after all."

"You're still all friends, right? You, Slippy, and Falco, I mean?"

"Oh, of course!" Fox clarified. "Falco and I actually managed to get Slippy out of his lab and take a break for once. He had been trying to work on more reliable G-diffusers."

"That's good then," Wolf said, watching with wonder as the impossibly tall towers of Corneria City grew gradually larger. "What would they think of me?"

"I don't know," Fox admitted, flexing his fingers around the steering wheel. "I wish I could say for sure but I don't know."

"It's okay. I can wait."

"I'll try to figure it out. They'll come around to the idea sometime."

Fox set down on the landing pad for the car rental place, and the two made their way to Fox's apartment. He was surprised at the number of people awake and about this early in the morning, strolling on the bridges or rushing to do errands on the slideways, but remembered that it was a workday.

"Wolf, do you have work? I apologize, I didn't even ask about that before."

"No, it's fine, I would let you know. Work is light for now."

"Alright"

"Of course."

Wolf grabbed Fox's hand as the two crossed a narrow and windy bridge, only a couple of towers away from Fox's apartment.

"Wolf, stop!" Fox yelled, freezing halfway across and whipping Wolf around him so that he had to grab onto the railing. Wolf noted that Fox had actually saved him from colliding with a group of rollerblading teenagers.  
"What is it?"

"Look! Falco, Slippy, and Bill are right there at the door to my apartment."

"Oh, perfect! Let's go meet them, then," Wolf said, looking down at Fox and hopping a bit on his toes.

Fox, however, looked as if he might jump out of his own fur.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this, Wolf. I'm sorry, but I just don't know how they'll react. Stay somewhere else for now. I'll explain everything and call you back when I'm ready."

Wolf adjusted his shirt for a moment.  
"Okay, Fox. I trust you," he said, and began to jog off the way they had come. He was wearing a thin smile, Fox saw.

Fox darted across the bridge and gathered himself.

 _Alright, you can do this. If you can fight a war, you can tell your friends about your new boyfriend._

Fox strolled over to his apartment, shouting "Well, look who it is!" when he determined he was in earshot of his friends.

Three pairs of eyes immediately focused on Fox.

"Make way! Make way! The king walks among us again!" Bill declared in his booming voice, his trippy every-colored shirt and shimmering silver pants somehow lending credence to the bulldog's words.

"Hey Fox!" Falco replied. "You probably saw us from a mile away, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Fox confirmed.

"We were hoping to surprise you, but I guess you had to turn the tables, didn't you?" Slippy added.

"You know it!"

"Where were you, anyway?" Falco asked.

"I was uh, just going to check on Peppy's safehouse," Fox said.

"Oh, that's a good idea. You should've invited us," Falco commented.

"Ah, sorry. It was a spur of the moment thing, you know. I just had to do it."

"Of course, we understand. Next time," Slippy suggested. He was already looking much healthier. His skin had thickened and regained its vibrant green shimmer.

"Sure. Hey, let's all go inside," Fox said as he opened the door and ushered everyone in. Somehow he was no longer concerned that his apartment was a mess.

"Ooh, I'm so excited! It's been so long, Fox!" Bill said, whipping his tail so that it brushed Fox's legs. He turned his head to look over Fox as he went in, and Fox saw that Bill realized something was different.

Fox sighed mentally. _I've known Bill for so long. What if I had hit it off with him instead? Would we have been a good couple? What if I then met Wolf later?_ _Maybe things worked out for the best after all. I'm glad that Bill_ _is still here for me as a friend._

"So what have you guys been up to?" Fox asked as his friends arranged themselves on his couch, doing their best to ignore the clothing and food wrappings strewn about the floor.

"I've been surfing all day, dude! It's excellent!" Bill offered, and the rest of them chuckled.

"Yeah, uh, I dunno, I've mostly been making sure Slippy gets some sun and doesn't bury himself in his research again." Falco put an arm around Slippy, who attempted to stifle a giggle. He had always been ticklish, and Falco had never tired of teasing him with his feathers.

"Hey, aren't you glad to have someone to play tennis with?" Slippy pouted, all the while playing with the tuft of feathers on Falco's head.

"Of course, buddy. Of course," Falco returned.

"What is the Cornerian Defense Force up to these days, exactly? What is the Council doing with you guys?" Fox asked Bill.

"Oh, dude, it's been weird. The Council doesn't have any idea what they're doing. My squadrons and I were actually fired, then re-hired as private defense contractors! Can you believe that!? They think it'll be more efficient but it's just caused chaos," Bill huffed.

"Wow Bill, I'm sorry. That sucks."

"Thanks. I'll figure something out though. I mean, at least I have a job. You guys have been left out cold."

"I guess we have." Fox looked down and kicked some of the plastic wrappers with his feet.

"But at least it's given us time to slow down and reconsider things," Falco suggested.

"Yeah. I can't believe I'm hearing that from you, though. Since when do you say things like 'Slow down'?" Slippy piped up.

"Oh, stop it, Slippy!" Falco retorted, poking the amphibian with a talon.

"Well, do you guys want some snacks? I'm sure I can find something here in this mess." Fox offered, hoping to offer some levity, but everybody declined with a quiet wave or nod.

"Fox, why don't we just help you clean your apartment today?" Falco said as he grabbed one of the wrappers that Fox had kicked up. "You've helped me and Slippy so much before, so we should help you now."

"No, absolutely not!" Fox stamped his feet. "I mean I appreciate it, but no. Besides, I was going to have..."

"Oh?" Bill asked, suddenly alert. He locked eyes with his friend. "Have what, Fox?"

"N-nothing, Bill. I don't know what you mean," Fox stammered.

"Were you going to have someone else over, dude?" Bill said, his voice taunting yet inviting.

 _How did he know?_ Fox shifted his weight from foot to foot. _What did I miss?_

Fox's moment of stunned introspection was, of course, all the evidence that Bill needed.

"Aha, I knew it! Why don't you call him in?" the bulldog commanded.

"Who now?" Falco asked, head-feathers ruffled in confusion.

"His new boyfriend, ya'know," Bill continued.

Falco looked to Fox for clarification.

 _Well, there's no way to avoid it now_ , Fox decided. He took a deep breath.

"Alright," he said. "Yes, it's true, I found someone. Just...please be kind to him, okay? He's been through a lot but I know he's a good person, and I want you to trust him too."

Falco and Slippy, both at the edge of their seats, relaxed in unison.

"Of course, Fox. If you trust him, then so do we. We wouldn't ever dream of getting in your way," Slippy said reassuringly.

"I'm just curious to see who this person is, though, if that's how you're talking about him." Falco crossed his arms, just enough to be protective.

"Alright, I'll call him over."

He sent a short text message on his phone to Wolf, and there was a knock at the door only a minute later.

"Okay, without further ado..." Fox said, attempting a dramatic tone which he had never quite mastered, and whipped the door open. Wolf stood in the frame awkwardly, bowing lightly to the three men on the couch.

"Um, hi everyone," Wolf began. "I know that-"

But he was interruped by Falco's piercing squawk. The avian stood upright and marched over to Fox with fire in his eyes.

"Fox, I can't say I know exactly what's going through your head but I am not okay with this. Wolf O'Donnell was our enemy and you can't just expect me to..."

Falco had pushed Fox up against the wall, and his hooked yellow beak was only inches away from Fox's eyes. He was still yelling but Fox couldn't pay attention at this point.

 _Oh, I've made a mistake. I thought Falco would be more collected than this. Maybe he just has to vent._ _I guess I should just grit my teeth and_ _let him get_ _through_ _it_ _._

Even as he was trapped by his own racing thoughts, though, Fox noticed Slippy get up and plod over next to Falco. He flexed, coiled up, and jumped, managing to slap the avian directly across the face.

Falco leapt back and looked down at his friend, too stunned to be angry.

"Falco," Slippy said in that slow and steady voice usually reserved for young children. "That was not okay. Fox is allowed to make his own choices, so we should give Wolf a chance. Please calm down."

Slippy returned to his seat. Falco sighed and looked over at Fox, cupping his beak with his hands in remorse.

"I'm sorry, Fox," he whispered. "I shouldn't have acted like that. I don't know what came over me. But this is a lot to take in, you know?"

Fox peeled himself from the wall and hugged Falco tightly. Falco rested his head on Fox's shoulder and patted his back.

"You're right, it is a lot," Fox admitted. "I wasn't sure how I was going to tell you guys." He let Falco go from him and put on a smile to cheer him up again. Falco took a few deep breaths, and stepped back to face Wolf.

"I'm _really_ sorry Wolf, it is actually extraordinary to meet you in person," Falco bowed to Wolf and offered a hand, which Wolf accepted in both of his own hands. Bill's relaxed smile didn't even waver.

"Apology accepted, Falco, " Wolf assured, and his eyes betrayed more than a hint of admiration.

"It's a pleasure for me to meet the greatest mercenaries on Corneria."

Falco chuckled. "Well, I'm glad somebody recognizes my talent."

Slippy and Fox both gave him a jab on the shoulder.

"Slippy, it's a pleasure to meet you as well," Wolf turned to the amphibian, who bowed and shook the wolf's hand enthusiastically. "Thank you for bringing everyone back to their senses as well."

"Thanks. Normally that's Fox's job, but it was fun," Slippy answered, causing Fox to beam.

"And it's a pleasure to meet you as well, uh," Wolf continued his path over to Bill, who made a show of standing at attention and giving a full military salute, which under General Pepper's rule had become extremely elaborate.

"Commander William Grey, at your service!" he bellowed, bowing robotically and extending his arm. "But please just call me Bill."

"A pleasure, Bill. So you're a soldier, then? I can't imagine what the War looked like from your perspective."

"That's right," Bill confirmed. "I'm sure it wasn't so different for us, though. The only difference was how we got paid."

"I suppose you're right," Wolf commented as he pulled a chair so that he could sit across from Bill.

"I'm still a bit disappointed you guys never joined the Defense Force," Bill said to Fox as he pulled Falco back down onto the couch. "At the very least you could've had a snazzy uniform like mine."

Fox shook his head and sat down next to Slippy. "Oh, Bill. Maybe we should have."

"In any case," Bill continued, "I just wanna say that I am _so glad_ that I'm your friend. Everything is _way_ more interesting with you around."

Wolf couldn't help but roar with laughter. Fox leaned back in relief. He locked eyes with Falco, who now looked ashamed at himself. He hung his head and mouthed an apology.

"It's okay," Fox mouthed back, "We're good." Falco gave a quick thumbs-up and returned his attention to Wolf, who was still recovering from Bill's remark.

"So, what now?" Slippy asked once everyone had settled down.

"Fox, we never got breakfast!" Wolf remembered, his eyes moving over to the small kitchen as he patted his stomach.

"Well, why don't I go get some food with you while Bill and Slippy help Fox clean his place up?" Falco stood up and brushed his wings off.

"Would you?" Wolf asked, swaying as he tried to gauge everyone's reactions and preferences.

"Yeah definitely. I want to make up for my outburst. I promise I'm not normally so hot-tempered."

"It's alright, I believe you. Let's go."

"Well, I never thought I'd be following plans set by Wolf and Falco, but let's get to it," Fox announced after Wolf and Falco had left. Slippy and Bill giggled and stood up.

Fox surveyed his apartment. This dreaded task of cleaning it all up didn't seem so intimidating to him all of a sudden.

Indeed, Slippy had already made a whirlwind of himself, piling up the food packaging and extracting dust and dirt from every small corner of the room. Bill began to organize the pile of clothes next to Fox's bed.

"If not a uniform, Fox, then at least remind me to take you shopping sometime," Bill teased. "And Wolf too. There's some pants I saw the other day that might look good on him."

"I'm not sure he'd want pants that nearly blind people," Fox teased back. "Though I've been surprised before."

"Dude, this was the mother of all surprises today. The greatest mercenary Corneria has ever seen is boyfriends with the fiercest warrior of Venom! You couldn't make up a better story."

"There's some poetry in it, I guess," Fox admitted, thinking about how he had talked about this same thing with Wolf.

"But you two are perfect for each other. How did you even meet?"

Fox told them the whole story as he wiped off the surfaces that Bill and Slippy cleared off. He was sure that Falco was receiving a similar version of the story from Wolf.

"So, that's the amazing thing, I guess," Fox concluded. "It was all just random chance that brought us together."

"It was more than chance," Bill insisted. "You ended up together because of who you are, and the choices you both made."

"You seem insistent on that point," Fox remarked.

"I just think you shouldn't discount your own agency. You and Wolf could do amazing things together."

"You have something in mind?"

"If you could sort this Council out for me, that would be great." Bill took a break from the clothes to stretch. Most of them were now perfectly folded and stacked on shelves by the bed.

Fox tossed the concept around in his mind for a minute. _Is there something we could do_ _w_ _ithout any money or social standing?_

"I think I should find some kind of regular job first," Fox concluded. "Then we'll see."

"Sounds good to me," Bill agreed, and Slippy gave a thumbs-up next to his pile of trash bags.

Falco and Wolf returned right after that, and began making breakfast together with some sort of wordless understanding. Fox was still surprised that they had reconciled so quickly, but he appreciated it. Falco always had his heart in the right place, Fox knew, even if he came of harsh sometimes.

"So, Wolf told me how you met," Falco said, distributing the food on Fox's highly underused kitchen table. "Somehow it all makes sense."

"Yeah, it does," Fox agreed. "Well, thank you guys so much. I don't know what I'd do without you all."

"You've done enough for us, Fox," Slippy pointed out. "I'm just glad we can return the favor."

"Yeah, definitely," Falco agreed, and Bill nodded in concurrence as well.

The five men finished the meal in the easy, comfortable silence of friends.

"Well, I'm so sorry my dudes, but I must say farewell," Bill declared when he was finished, folding a napkin into a crane and placing it on his plate. "It's been a wonderful day, but I need to make sure Husky Squadron hasn't set anything on fire today. I'll try to keep in touch."

"Sure thing, Bill! It was wonderful," Fox replied, and he was followed by a chorus of "Goodbye!" and "See you!" from everyone else.

Bill gave a full General Pepper-like salute again and made his way out.

Fox took everyone's plate and cleaned them, placing them for the first time in the proper drawer.

"Well, I guess I should look for a job," He remarked to everybody.

"Not right now, surely," Slippy insisted. "I'd like to get more acquainted with our new friend."


	10. The Gate

Chapter 10: The Gate

"Most of our children have grown up on stories about space mercenaries and their acts of bravery and heroism. Space mercenaries have been a part of culture in the Lylat system since space travel was invented independently and nearly at the same time on both Corneria and Venom. The first of these groups known to history is the Blue Wolves, a group of six Cornerian lupines who raided the merchant ships of the wealthy and dictatorial Zorugo corporation, which was responsible for the (initially rather hasty) terraforming of Katina. Their actions eventually caused the corporation to break up, and terraforming efforts on Katina were taken over by a public board. Nowadays Katina is one of the most pleasant and agriculturally productive worlds in the Lylat Cluster, and we have the Blue Wolves to thank for it.

Of course, after it was shown that mercenary groups were a viable instrument of politics and warfare in the Lylat Cluster, many others followed. For instance, the large and diverse group known as the Space Cadets later saved Fortuna from conquest by Katina, and the Aquas-based Smooth Operators prevented war from breaking out between Eladard and Papetoon through the careful assassination of key war hawks.

Even the often-troubled planet of Macbeth has produced fine mercenary groups, most notably the Weird Sisters. This group, consisting of one set of identical triplets and two of their friends, defended their homeworld from two separate attempts at conquest by Venom, making them some of the longest-fighting mercenaries to date.

Of course in the modern day the space mercenary world has been dominated by the nearly-mirror teams of Star Fox of Corneria and Star Wolf of Venom. Under the leadership of James and later Fox McCloud, Star Fox may be seen as the apotheosis of Corneria's long tradition of refined military skill and elegance, practically indistinguishable from their own armed forces, while Star Wolf represents a rougher and more haphazard approach to warfare, emblematic of Venom's slow slide into irrelevance during Corneria's rise to power in the past few centuries.

The two teams performed quite similarly at the beginning of the Lylat War, but both began to fall apart towards the end, though perhaps in differnt ways. The "modern" members of Star Fox (Fox McCloud, Slippy Toad, and Falco Lombardi) survived with the exception of Peppy Hare, but the Reform Council disbanded them immediately upon their return to Corneria, revoked their flight licenses, and confiscated their weapons. Their current whereabouts are unkown to the general public, being the subject of both strict self-censorship and stricter Council-enforced privacy laws. The smaller team Star Wolf fared much more poorly: Algy Sama died near the end of the war, and Leon Powalski went missing under mysterious circumstances not long after. Pigma Dengar died during the middle of the war, supposedly at the hand of his own leader, Wolf O'Donnell. It is not currently known what reason Wolf would have to kill Pigma, or even where this rumor originated. O'Donnell, then, is the only known surviving member of Star Wolf. The Council has revealed that he was captured and imprisoned on Corneria, then released after a perfunctory prison sentence when a thorough investigation determined that he posed no further threat to the Cluster. His current whereabouts are also unknown.

Will the strange and tragic ends of these two fiersome mercenary groups, as well as censorship efforts by the Council, lead to the death of space mercenary culture in the Lylat Cluster?"

-Excerpt from "A History of Mercenaries in the Space Age" by Equin Qian

Fox and Wolf were awoken early in the morning by a chime from the door. The two looked at each other in surprise.

"Were you expecting something, Fox?"

"No, I have no idea what that could be."

"Want me to check it out?"

"No, it's fine." Fox slid out of bed and threw on some clothing. He motioned for Wolf to stay put as he went to the door.

Wolf actually didn't mind spending a few more minutes in Fox's bed. It gave him some time to absorb the other's scent, something like lavender or juniper. He was extremely happy that Fox had asked him to stay over for the night.

Fox peered at the door's camera screen. It showed a short cardinal woman dressed in stark gray clothes, with no logo or identifying symbols.

"Hello, who are you?" Fox asked through the com, hoping he didn't sound too surprised.

"My name is Faisa Temple. I represent the Reform Council of Corneria. Is this Mr. McCloud?"

"Yes, that's me. What do you want?"

"We want to hire you to investigate some worrying occurrences in the Nebula."

"Seriously? You want to hire me now, after leaving me in the dust only a year ago?"

"Well-yes. We need you."

"Hm. Fine then," Fox opened the door and welcomed the cardinal in with a sweep of his arm.

Faisa stepped in and nodded to Fox. She pulled out a pad and projected some documents across the walls.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, McCloud. I've always admired both you and your father. If it had been my choice-"

"Thank you, but please get to the point," Fox commanded as he pulled over one of the holographic documents.

"Of course, sorry," Faisa coughed.

She sat down and pulled up a chart of the Nebula with several regions highlighted, and arrows drawn linking them to a central point.

"So, one of the unexpected results of the Lylat Wars was the number of abandoned and destroyed ships left floating in space. It's not safe or cost-effective to salvage most of them."

Fox's eyes widened as he considered the possibilities. "Just a moment, Ms. Temple, I need to get something."

"Of course."

Fox darted back into his bedroom and emerged hand in hand with Wolf.

Faisa jumped up from her chair, feathers ruffled. "Mr. McCloud, I came here to speak with you alone! We were not planning on-"

"Involving Wolf here?"

"We didn't expect...that he would be interested in the job. Or that we would find the two of you together."  
"Well, I'm here and I'm interested," Wolf replied, giving a toothy grin.

Faisa, though, seemed lost in a different train of thought.

"Fox, were you born on Corneria?" she asked.

"Yes."

"How peculiar. But I guess it's none of my business." Faisa turned up her beak and narrowed her eyes.

Fox curled both of his hands into fists.

"Fortunately for you, the Council cares much more about profit than family values," Faisa continued. "So, do you want to hear about the job or not?"

"Let's hear it," Fox said automatically, still trying to process all of the devious meaning in Faisa's statement.

Faisa collected herself and pointed again to the chart.

"So as I said, there are a great many abandoned ships in the Nebula. We're worried about the antimatter in these ships."

"That _is_ an enomrous amount of power just floating around," Fox remarked.

"Exactly," Faisa agreed. "We think that several groups of pirates working together have figured out how to extract it safely, and they're stockpiling it nearby. We need you to find out as much as you can about this operation. How many people they have, how much antimatter they have, where they keep it, and so on."

"And then what?"  
"If you judge that you can, and you want to, you can destroy them yourselves. Otherwise, just tell us their strength and we will come and destroy them oureslves. What we care about most is that you recover the antimatter for us."

Wolf rubbed his eyes and pulled several of the documents toward him. He looked back up at the chart. It was a lot to do, really...the Nebula had a radius equal to about the distance between Lylat and Meteo. It was huge and scary, and Wolf had always hated flying through it. He looked over to Fox, now immersed in a list of ships known to be lost, and their technical specifications. _I'm sure that_ _with Fox at my side,_ _I can_ _do it. Perhaps even enjoy it._

"Well, gentlement, what do you think?" Faisa asked finally, tapping the table with a talon.

"We'll do it," Fox said without hesitation. "But we need-"

"Don't worry," Faisa interrupted. "We have everything prepared for you. Your flight and weapons registrations have been reinstated, and we will give you new a Arwing Mark VI. And uh, we will get supplies for you too, Wolf."

"How about the Great Fox?"

"Sorry, we can't give you that," Faisa cut in. "The Great Fox was a massive investment and, strictly speaking, it has still not made a return. If you complete this mission to our satisfaction, though, we will consider it paid off."

"Fine," Fox said, but he shook his head. _I've_ _still_ _got to figure out whatever financial wizardry my Dad used to get that thing built in the first place._

"And you, Mr. O'Donnell?"

"I'm in," Wolf replied, putting a hand on Fox's. Fox twitched, pushing himself from the papers. He looked at Wolf and smiled reassuringly. Faisa's jaw hung loose.

"We can do this," Fox said, both to Wolf and Faisa. "What about the rest of team Star Fox, though?"

"That's up to you," Faisa said. "We have resources for Falco and Slippy if they choose to come, but you will be responsible for organizing them. Just have everyone meet at the Space Force Headquarters on the 10th, at 8:00 AM. Room 1025. Give them this card and you'll have no trouble getting in."

Faisa deposited a small card on the table and got up. "These documents are yours. Be sure to review them thoroughly. It was nice speaking with you two," she concluded, and left without closing the door.

"Well, I guess I don't have to look for a job anymore," Fox remarked as he went to close the door, and Wolf chuckled.

"Guess so. And meanwhile, I'd better quit mine."

"Yeah. Wolf, you seemed a bit nervous. You have any thoughts about this?"

"I've never liked flying through the Nebula. Always had bad luck."

"Bad luck can strike anywhere."

"Yeah, but-" Wolf got up and began pacing around the room.

"It's okay, you can tell me."

"I was never afraid of dying before. I mean I'm still not _afraid_ , but I was content that if I died, nobody would miss me. But now, if I got hurt or died...I don't want to put you through that sort of pain."

Fox stopped Wolf in his tracks and grabbed his muzzle. He brushed a finger past Wolf's eye and up over his ear, making him squint.

"Don't be so dramatic. This should be fun! Nobody's gonna die."

"I know, but we're mercenaries, right? We're never that far from death."

"You're thinking about it the wrong way. Falco, Slippy, and I talked about this a lot."

"You did?" Wolf draped a hand across Fox's waist. "I guess that makes sense."

"Yes. After Peppy died, we buried him right next to where his Arwing crashed on Fortuna and stayed there for three whole days. We didn't feel like we could go on."

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks. But later we were cleaning his room in the Great Fox and found that he had left a box in the case of his death."

"What was in it?"

"Just a few toys. Some balloons, a model racing car, a flute."

"I can't quite see that being in Peppy's character."

"We were surprised too. But I guess...he didn't want us to destroy ourselves, in the end. He wanted us to find joy where we could."

"That's admirable."

"Yeah. So we agreed that if one of us died, the rest had to keep going no matter what."

Wolf shook his head. "That's really nice, Fox. I wish I'd had that sort of friendship before."

Fox squeezed his new boyfriend. "You do now, Wolf. I promise I'd keep going for you. Will you keep going for me?"

Wolf brushed Fox's arms from his muzzle. "Yes, I will."

"Good."

Wolf took a few steps and opened the blinds, allowing the morning sunlight to spill through. "I didn't actually expect you to be so quick to take the Council's offer, considering everything."

"I know, but I just have to get flying again."

"I understand. But what about the next job? Do you think the Council will even be stable enough to give us reliable work? And do we really want them to be the ones paying us?"

"I'm not going to worry about that until after we finish this job."

"Fair enough. So, do you want to tell Slippy and Falco?"

"I'll tell them tomorrow. Let's read through everything here first."

"Do you think they'll be okay working with me? I mean, Slippy seems willing to give me chance, but Falco still seems a bit on edge."

Fox sighed but he put on a wide smile. "Falco has a bit of a hard head, but once he knows you he's the most loyal friend you could ask for. He just needs some time."

Wolf nodded. "Alright, I'll give him a chance." He went and sat down on the couch with his legs wide.

"You know, Fox," he continued. "You should have taken Falco up on his offer."

"What?"

Wolf crossed his legs. "He's _really_ hot, don't you think?"

Fox blushed. "Are you going to abandon me for him already?"

"Never! I'm just pointing it out."

Fox joined Wolf on the couch, trying to control his awkward expression. "I've never had an opportunity to talk about guys like this before, Wolf."

"We don't have to."

"No, it's fine. What did you think of Bill?"

"He's pretty cute."

"Yeah, I think so too."

"Uh, did you two ever-"

"No. We never quite hit it off."

"I see. But you're still good friends?"

"Yes," Fox affirmed as he drifted into Wolf's lap.

Wolf allowed himself to slouch, and he stroked Fox's ears.

 _He has such beautiful green eyes_ , Wolf realized.

Fox reached up and scratched under Wolf's chin. _What_ _gorgeous_ _red eyes_ _..._


	11. Zenith

Chapter 11: Zenith

About Eight Cornerian Years Ago:

"So, Fox, how was school today?" James McCloudasked immediately as his son swung himself into the back seat of the car. Fox arranged his backpack next to him before answering.

"It was alright. I got a B on that history test, though."

"That's fine. I'm sure you'll do great on the next one."

"Yeah."

"How was the mission on Eladard, Dad?"

"Had to shoot down a few rogue missiles. No big deal."

"That's good, right? Not exciting means not dangerous."

"Right."

James lifted off from the school's landing strip and sped off back to their home, taking a scenic route through the arches at the edge of the City. Fox looked over the window and down at the cherry blossom trees painting the walkways pink.

"Did you learn anything interesting?" he asked. He couldn't help but ask this every so often, though he didn't really expect an answer. He felt like now might be a good time. His son had been a bit more quiet than usual lately.

"Eh, I dunno."

"Anything interesting happen at all?"

Fox hummed for a moment. "Well, you know that party we're going to have at the end of the year?"

"Yeah! Are you going?"

"Yes," Fox affirmed happily. "I wanted to ask Paul out as a date."

James ascended and slowed the car to a hover above the express corridor, weaving through a line of cargo trucks with unnerving precision.

"You know you can't do that, right?" James asked, continuing to stare straight ahead.

"Why not? Lots of kids are asking each other out as a date."

"Oh, you can ask someone out. But not another guy."

"Why not?" Fox craned his neck to try to see his father's expression.

"It's complicated."

"Come on Dad, you can tell me."

"Isn't there a girl you'd want to ask out? What about Yume? She's nice."

"Yeah, but I like Paul more. He's cute."

"He should be your friend, and nothing else."

"But why not?"

"Because! That's just how things are on Corneria. Men can't be with other men. And women can't be with other women either." James turned around to face Fox, and Fox could see the hint of a tears on his father's eyes.

"But-"

"Not now Fox!"

"Okay. Sorry."

"It's fine."

James let the car fall back into the express lane. The two spent the rest of the drive in silence.

When they got home, Fox went to his room and nearly closed the door. He set out his homework for the night, but went to sit on his bed instead. _Am I angry? No, I'm just scared._ _Scared of Dad? No, I'm scared for him. But what did I do wrong?_

Fox went out from his room a few minutes later to find his Dad. He was standing in the hallway, scratching his neck and staring at the shrine they had made together for his mother.

Fox turned back to his room, but James had already heard him.

"Oh, Fox! Want to help make dinner tonight?"

"What about my homework?" Fox asked, though his tail was already swishing with excitement.

"You can do that later," James said, smiling.

"Hooray!" Fox hopped into the kitchen, and his father followed a distance behind.

James went over to the pantry as his son got out the plates and silverware.

"Oh, we don't have much today," he noted, his tail falling a bit. "Is spaghetti and meatballs okay?"

"Sure, Dad," Fox assured his father as he folded some napkins. James stopped to go over and watch. It was entirely unnecessary, but it had become Fox's tradition to fold some napkins into cranes or fancy geometric shapes. James enjoyed it immensely.

"Fox, I'm sorry for yelling at you in the car," James said from the corner of Fox's vision.

"It's okay," Fox replied, but he hung his head. "You seemed scared for some reason." He finished one crane and put it on his father's plate, then began folding a crane for himself.

"I'm scared for you, Fox," he said, "For your safety." James walked back over to get out a box of spaghetti, hopping slightly from foot to foot.

Fox sighed. "Dad, you always use that excuse to keep me from doing things."

"No, really Fox," James continued as he took out some meat substitute from the synthesizer.

"I just don't understand," Fox pleaded. "What's wrong with me liking another boy?"

"Nothing's...wrong with it, I guess," James admitted. "When you're done with the napkins, would you get the bowl and the strainer?"

"Oh, sure. Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is that other people think it's wrong," James said as he cut the meat with a huge knife.

"What people?" Fox asked, putting the bowl and the strainer next to his Dad.

"Nearly everyone on Corneria," James explained, molding the the meat into balls with his hands. He was pressing much harder than normal, making them small and dense.

Fox gulped. "Everyone?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know, Fox."

"What about the other planets?"

"Hm...I think Katina allows it. Probably Zoness too. Venom has a lot of queers, I know. That's part of why we don't like them." James explained almost mechanically as he put the meatballs in the oven and set a pot of water to boil.

"Am I a queer too, then?"

"No! I mean, if you like other boys, yes, but..."

"Dad," Fox interrupted as he tried to put the pieces together. "You just said we don't like Venom because they have queers. But if I'm queer..."

"Oh, Fox, that's not what I meant!" James said, kneeling down to see evenly with his son.

"I will love you always, no matter what. I was just trying to explain why other Cornerians don't like Venom. There are other reasons that have nothing to do with this."

"That's kinda confusing," Fox admitted, his ears falling nearly flat against his head.

"I know. I'm sorry." James's ears fell flat as well.

"Dad, the water's boiling."

"Oh, right!" James jumped back up and steading himself on the counter. He put the entire box of spaghetti into the pot. Normally he measured quite carefully.  
"Fox, do you want to make the sauce yourself tonight, or should we just get it from the synthesizer?"

"I'll make it!" Fox said, perking back up. "We're gonna need a lot."

James turned back to glance at the pot. "Yeah, you're right." He pulled a small bag of tomatoes from the pantry.

"Thanks, Dad!"

"No, thank you!"

Fox and his father spent dinner talking about sports. Fox played soccer sometimes, but James had a deep interest in baseball, and for once he was glad to listen to his father ramble about batting averages.

When they were done, Fox reached for his father's plate to put in the sink, but James deflected him with a finger.

"Don't worry, I'll clean up. You should go do your homework."

"Alright."

Fox plodded to his room and took out his chemistry homework, and started to read the first of many questions.

 _Consider the reaction between_ _ammonia and boron trifluoride._ _What type of bond is formed between the two reactants?_ _Why is it that boron trifluoride is considered the acid in this case, even though it has no hydrogen atom to donate?_

"Thank you, Slippy," Fox whispered as he began to write down the answers. He wouldn't have known except that his amphibian friend had been babbling about boron trifluoride that very morning.

When he finally finished his homework, he went to say good-night to his father.

James was in his office, talking on the phone in a hushed tone. Fox decided to hover outside the door and listen before coming in.

"The doctor said it's very rare, but it does happen. Something about retrotransposons; I didn't understand it myself. Did you ever hear about something like this, Peppy?"

"No, I can't say I have. How is Fox feeling about it?"

"I think I scared him."

"The poor kid. He doesn't deserve something like this."

"I agree. We have to accept it, though."

"You're right. James, you need to make sure he feels comfortable with himself."

"But how is he going to stay safe on Corneria? Imagine what could happen if the wrong people found out about this."

"I'm sure that he's mature enough to handle it."

"You're right. Thanks, Peppy. I really appreciate it."  
"Of course. Tell Fox I said hi."

"I will. Have a good night."

"You too."

Fox opened the door.

James waved his son in as he tried to tidy a perilously tall stack of papers. "Oh, hey Fox! Um, Peppy says hi."

"Good! Tell him I say hi back." Fox smiled sheepishly. Of all the friends that James had, Fox liked Peppy the most.

"Is everything okay, Fox? I'm sorry today had to be so stressful for you." James stood up from his chair and stretched out his arms.

"It's fine. I think I understand. I just wanted to say good-night."

"Oh, of course. There's something I wanted to say too."

"What is it?"

James walked over and picked up his son in a tight hug. "First of all, I'm sorry for scaring you. It doesn't matter to me that you like other boys. I promise," James said, wrinkling his brow in the way that Fox knew meant sincerity.

"Okay."

"Also, promise me that when you're an adult you'll move off this planet and find a place that's safe for you. Go to Katina or Zoness and find a nice guy who will treat you right."

"I will, Dad."

"Good. Okay, have a good night. I love you." James put his son back on the floor.

"Love you too."

Fox wasn't sure how much sleep he'd be able to get that night.

Present day:

 _Come on, Dad, five more minutes...where'd I put my chemistry homework...wait, this isn't my bed...water..._

Fox pulled his eyes open and tried to untangle himself from the sheets. He didn't see anyone else in the room. It slowly filtered back into his waking mind that he was in Wolf's apartment, that he had already turned in his chemistry homework twelve years ago, and that his father was no longer with him.

He flipped out of the bed and realized that he was extraordinarily thirsty. He decided to disregard his tongue's cries for attention until he found Wolf.

"Fox, I'm here!" he heard a call from the kitchen. "I've made breakfast."

Fox went out and saw Wolf already standing by the table, with two plates of rice, synthetic eggs, and seaweed laid out before him.

"Oh, thanks Wolf," Fox's mouth watered as the scent of the food hit him. He got a large glass of water and gulped down the entire thing before walking over to the table.

"Of course." Wolf wrapped Fox in a gentle hug and planted a kiss on his cheek. Fox put a finger up against Wolf's muzzle, and pushed it gently so that their lips touched.

"You could've woken me up, you know," Fox said as they drew away.  
"I wasn't sure I should. You looked like you were having an intense dream," Wolf explained. He sat down and motioned for Fox to follow.

"Oh. Yeah."

" _Should_ I have woken you?" Wolf asked, opening his arms.

"No, it's fine. I was reliving an old memory." Fox picked up his spoon and began to toy with the rice.

"What sort?" Wolf's ears rotated towards his boyfriend.

"It was when I told my Dad that I'm gay." Fox said. He put down his spoon and looked Wolf in the eyes.

"Oh. I hope that's not too bad a memory, then." Wolf's artificial eye seemed to glow for a moment.

"No," Fox assured him. "I think my Dad understood, in the end."

"Good," Wolf said as he started to eat. "Read to tell Falco and Slippy about the job?"

"Yes." Fox took out his phone and called Falco, trying to explain everything as quickly as possible before his avian friend could raise a question or objection. To Fox's surprise, Falco's response was short and simple: "Awesome! I'm surprised but it'll be great to get flying again. I'll be over with Slippy in a minute."

"Great, see you then."

Sure enough, the two were at Wolf's apartment a few minutes later.

Falco bowed lightly to Wolf as he came in, while Slippy bounded immediately to the table, where Fox was setting up the documents on the projector.

"Do you have a plan, Fox?"  
"No. I wanted everyone here before we started. We haven't really done a job like this before."

"Right."

Falco and Wolf got back to the table, and Fox stood up.

"Alright, so there are 178 ships somewhere in the Nebula," Fox began. "99 are Cornerian, and 79 are Venomian. Mostly carriers and cruisers, but a few dreadnoughts as well. Most of them are probably in Sector Y, with the rest in Sectors X and Z. It's probably that by now most of their antimatter has been taken by the pirates, so that makes our job somewhat easier. The trouble is that we don't know much about the pirates."

"What _do_ we know?" Falco asked.

"Their base of operations is a rogue planet at the edge of the Nebula. As far as I know, it hasn't been observed before." Fox pulled up a few grainy photos of the world, which was mostly white but had splotches of black and red.

Slippy's face lit up. "Actually it has been! I'm almost certain that's Miyamoto-64. The Research Institute discovered it thirty years ago, but we lost track of it five years ago. Strange to see it again."

"They lost track of a planet!?" Falco asked, clicking his beak.

"It happens more often than you'd expect. They keep track of millions of astronomical bodies. Things slip through the cracks all the time," Slippy explained as he pulled a view of the planet towards him.

"Do you know anything about this planet?" Fox asked, smiling. _Slippy is back in action!_

"Not much. It was probably expelled from Ferrule's system about fifty million years ago, so it may still be relatively warm. The white stuff is probably water and carbon dioxide ice, and the black and red stuff is probably complex hydrocarbons. Wait, though. Do you have any better pictures?"

Fox dug through the files and pulled up a few other pictures of the icy world.

"There!" Slippy yelled, pointing and jumping slightly. "That blue dot! You only get that frequency from antimatter processing. That's their base."

"Slippy, there are three dots. And the one in the middle is bigger." Fox noted.

"Yeah, that's kinda weird," Slippy admitted. "I don't see why they'd split themselves up like that."

"I think I might know," Wolf interrupted. Everyone looked at him, and Fox stepped back to let him speak.

"Venom has a different method for storing antimatter than Corneria," Wolf explained. "They invented it before switching to Standard Interstellar Units, so it's totally incompatible with Cornerian technology. They must have separate facilities for processing the Cornerian and Venomian cores, then put it all together at that central facility."

"That makes sense!" Slippy affirmed, nodding happily.

"Ugh. I hate this ground-based stuff. But it does sound deliciously dangerous," Falco said, preening his wing feathers.

"That it will be, Falco," Fox agreed. "And we still don't know how many pirates there are, or what forces they have."

"Well, those blue dots look pretty big to me, so I'd assume a lot," Falco suggested.

"A safe assumption," Wolf said. "We'll need to figure out how to take them out without detonating any antimatter."

Everyone nodded solemnly.

"I think any one of us could handle any space defenses they have," Fox said, trying to sound confident. "But once we're on the ground...we'll just have to stick together and fight quickly."

"Could we try some sort of disguise?" Falco asked.

"Hm, not a bad idea," Fox answered. "I imagine we could make ourselves look like defectors from the Council. It's hard to know what they'd recognize as legitimate or not, though."

"I like that idea," Wolf added. "We'll just have to give it a chance and be ready when it fails. It should buy us some time to get prepared, though."

"Sounds good," Fox said. "I'm not sure there's much else we can get ready, with the information at hand."

"Wait, Fox, what sort of equipment are they giving us?" Falco asked.

"Four Arwing Mark VIs, and one of their carriers. No Great Fox."

"That's ridiculous!" Slippy yelled.

"I agree," Fox said. "We've made do with worse, though."

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Falco concurred.

"Hey, we're missing something," Slippy declared suddenly.

"What's that, Slips?" Fox asked.

"What are we gonna call ourselves now? 'Star Fox' doesn't make sense anymore."

"Hm, I guess you're right," Fox admitted. "Anyone have any ideas?"

Wolf smirked and shook his head.

"Star Fox plus Wolf? Star Assorted Creatures? Star Star?" Slippy mused.

"That second one isn't so bad," Falco giggled.

"Wait guys! What about 'Star Hare'?" Slippy said, staring off into space. "For Peppy."

"That's a good idea," Falco agreed, and Fox nodded.

"Actually, Wolf, you realize that you're taking Peppy's spot in our team, right?" he pointed out.

Wolf looked down and shuffled his feet. "I guess you're right. I will try to be worthy of the position."

Fox took Wolf's hand in his. "Don't worry, you will be."


	12. Ascension

Chapter 12: Ascension

As Faisa had directed, the newly named team Star Hare arrived at the Space Force headquarters early in the morning on the 10th of Caelus. Fox always got a thrill from seeing the soaring trusses and blinking red lights of the launch structures. But it was tainted this time with a sort of trepidation he had never really felt before.

"Is it always like this?" Wolf asked as they walked past several runways to the main building. They were filled with various smaller fighters, laid out like toys dropped by a careless child, and most of them were swarmed by teams of mechanics and engineers.

"Not really," Fox replied, pulling Wolf back from straying too close to a small surveillance drone. Slippy croaked in agreement. The four stopped for a moment to watch a team of workers strip the image of a smiling General Pepper from the side of a cruiser.

"Guys, come on, I wanna get off this planet!" Falco protested, gesturing wildly to the control tower. The rest hurried to catch up with him.

Faisa was there to greet them at the door. "Good morning, gentlemen," she said, ushering them inside with surprising urgency. "We got you a carrier named _Spear of Longinus_. A few Councilors may come to see you off, so please act professionally. But let's get you ready first."

The four followed Faisa into a small room filled with computers. A young sheltie technician waved nervously from a corner. "Hey, my name's-"

"This is Alex. He'll be reinstating your licences and reactivating your interfaces," Faisa finished.

"Uh, yes," Alex affirmed. He cleared his throat. "Right, just stand still with your arms out and I can reactivate everything with this wand."

He didn't really have to explain the process. All four of them extended their arms and tilted their heads slightly forward, just as they had done numerous times for their routine checkups during the war. Alex tapped the wand against the the chip installed on each of their arms, and on the interface links at the top of each neck.

Alex jumped back when he got to Wolf. "Wait, your interface..."

"Oh, sorry," Wolf chuckled. He pointed to his eye. "It's here."

The technician frowned. "Agh, that's weird even for Venomian tech. Does it have a link?"

Wolf pointed below his ear, and Alex shook his head. "Alright, we'll just have to physically plug you in."

Wolf let Alex drag him over to a terminal and attach a thin yellow wire to his head. Slippy covered his mouth at the primitive sight, while the technician grumbled about not being paid enough as his fingers whipped across a keyboard.

Fox closed his eyes for a moment. He started to feel the tall green mountains of Falco's mind, and bounced into the soft, frenetic pastel expanse of Slippy's. After a moment he felt a new presence too, something rough and muted in color, yet still warm and inviting. Wolf. He wondered what his own mind looked like to the others.

He opened his eyes to find Falco and Slippy passing each other awkward glances. _Are they having trouble adjusting to seeing Wolf's mind?_ Wolf, however, had a rather blank expression.

"You alright, guys?" Fox asked unassumingly, tilting his head to Falco.

Falco's beak folded into a sort of smirk. "Yeah, I just forgot how loud your mind is, Fox. I don't know how you think in there."

"It's not any louder than when you tried to drive the Landmaster, I think," Fox returned with a smile, making Falco roll his eyes.

"Okay, you're all ready," Alex cut through as he detached Wolf from the terminal.

Faisa motioned quickly for the group to follow her. Wolf held back, taking time to stretch his arms. He looked nauseuous.

"Are _you_ okay, Wolf?" Fox grabbed his companion's arm while Falco and Slippy walked ahead.

"Don't worry, Fox," Wolf reassured, but he grabbed Fox's hand. "It's just weird to have three new minds in your head at once. I'll be fine."

"Was it different with Star Wolf? Did your minds connect differently? Or was it Falco?" The questions leapt from Fox's mouth with a speed that surprised him.

"No. The connection was similar, I guess, but-how can I describe-It was not fun to spend time in Pigma's mind. Or Algy's. Even Leon's, at times. Your minds are s-so much more comfortable in comparison," Wolf stuttered out.

Fox hugged Wolf tightly. "I'm sorry Wolf. I hadn't even thought about that. But they'll never get in your mind again."

Wolf pulled Fox away so that they could look each other in the eyes, but Wolf still wore a distant expression. "You're right. Thanks."

"We'd better get going," Fox said, pulling Wolf lightly. The two stepped back into the hallway just in time to fall in line behind Slippy as he turned a corner to the main launch facilities.

The group filed into a control room arranged like an amphitheater, with dozens of technicians typing quietly under the aegis of enormous holographic screens. Technical chatter, almost a different language from Cornerian Standard, flowed through the air just at the level where it couldn't quite be tuned out.

Presiding over the room was, of all people, Yaru de Pon.

"Mr. de Pon!" Slippy declared with a sharp intake of breath.

"Councilor de Pon now, actually," the tanuki corrected with an exaggerated tightening of his tie.

"But why? Was Space Dynamics not enough for you?"

"Oh, it was. But General Pepper would've driven it to the ground."

"That doesn't make sense. You two always had a special agreement going on."

"You're right. And he couldn't keep his end of the bargain."

"What are you talking about!?"

"Ugh, you've become too much like soldiers. When the War began, the General promised us a tidy profit. But we started losing money only a year in. Billions and billions of rupees down the drain. The choice was obvious."

Slippy turned his face away. "You're a monster, de Pon. I can't believe I ever trusted you."

"Now, now, you're the mercenaries, not me," de Pon teased. Slippy stomped his feet, but he said nothing.

Fox put a finger on his friend's chin, and gently brought his face back up. "Slippy, not now."

Fox turned around to his opponent "That'll be all, de Pon. You came to see the launch, right?"

Yaru nodded stiffly. "Yes. And good timing on your part, too; they finished the preparations just ten minutes ago."

Faisa stepped in between the fox and tanuki. "Alright then, let's get going. Right this way, gentlemen," she commanded, opening a door in the corner of the control room.

Fox looked over his teammates. Falco was trying as hard as possible to look bored, but his feathers were standing up ever so slightly regardless, and his talons were flexed. Slippy was still shaken by the conversation of the past few minutes, but he could see the amphibian's eyes dart every so often to the holoscreens, reading the diagnostics. Wolf actually did seem to be a bit bored, which Fox decided was a good sign-he was feeling comfortable in his surroundings.

 _This level of politics is probably nothing to him_ , Fox mused, and Wolf flashed a brief feeling of agreement through his interface. _You should've seen the Venomian Assembly,_ Wolf continued. _There were_ _fistfights_ _over the office supply budget._

"Come on, guys," he announced. "Let's make back the money that Mr. de Pon lost."

Fox darted out the door before de Pon could respond, and saw to his relief that his team had followed close behind. Ahead of them was a long, spindly catwalk to their new carrier, encased in the support frame like an egg about to hatch.

Fox's heart began to beat faster, and he began to sprint across the catwalk. He felt almost pushed forward by the overwhelming desire to fly again. He turned to look back only after he had opened the door with the touch of his finger, though the rest of his team and Faisa were not far behind.

Faisa smiled thinly. "You are on your own now, McCloud. You can launch at your leisure. Just call controller R-72 when you're ready. Your launch number is 45897."

Fox gave a short salute. "Understood. Thank you." Faisa hurried back across the catwalk, but turned back a minute later.

"Oh, and one more thing."

"What's that?"

"We managed to salvage ROB, and did some reprogramming. He's in the cargo hold for you to reactivate."

"Ah, thank you," Fox replied. That was a welcome surprise, but Faisa's offhand way of telling him made him worry.

Fox turned to his team. Everyone, even Wolf, was smiling dumbly at this point. The four walked in silence to the bridge, each taking their typical spots. Slippy set up his engineering controls, Falco took to navigation, and Fox to command.

"These are a bit different than what I remember, when we flew that one carrier to Fichina," Slippy remarked. "Yeah, everything's been shifted around," Falco confirmed. Fox noticed that there was no Space Dynamics logo to be seen, nor any other logo for that matter.

Wolf hovered close to Fox, seeming to exude nervousness.

 _Why don't you take the helm, Wolf? Steer us out,_ Fox suggested. _Falco is just doing the big-scale adjustments, after all._

 _Oh, right,_ Wolf replied. _It's kinda different from a Venomian carrier, though._

 _I know you can figure it out,_ Fox insisted, and flashed a few muscle memories to his companion. Falco was actually the best at teaching through his interface, but Fox hoped that his thoughts were clear enough.

Wolf nodded and walked over to the helm. He took a deep breath and cracked his fingers dramatically before activating the controls.

"Flight controller R-72, come in. This is the _Spear of Longinus_ requesting permission to launch."

"Good morning, _Spear of Longinus_ , this is R-72. Please confirm your launch number."

"Our launch number is 45897. I repeat, 45897."

"Launch number 45897 confirmed. You are clear to launch on runway 3."

"Alright boys!" Fox whooped. "Let's dance!"

Falco whooped as well, and Wolf gave out a short howl before steering the carrier to the runway.

Then, a clank and a thud as the launch arms connected with the ship. A whir as the antigravity thrusters warmed up, and a great rumble as the runway swung into place.

"Attention," the ship's automatic systems cut in. "Launch sequence activated. Ascension on the count of five, four, three, two...one."

Now an undefinable screech as the ship accelerated, clearing the runway in the blink of an eye, breaking the sound barrier in several seconds, and clearing the atmosphere in several more.

"Orbit achieved, 520 kilometers, 10.4 kilometers per second," Wolf declared with satisfaction.

"Fantastic, Wolf," Fox affirmed. "Falco, what's our path?"  
"Aquas and Eladard are in a good position right now," Falco replied. "We could slingshot past both of them and be at Miyamoto in three days even, including today."

"That's perfect. Set the course."

"Yes, sir!" Falco waved back and made the corrections until the computer was able to take over.

"Do you need anything, Slippy?"

"No, everything seems to be in order. I would like to see what they did with ROB, though."

"Yeah, we'd better do that," Fox agreed. "Let's take it easy otherwise, though. We should spend tomorrow in simulations, then prepare everything for real the day after."

"Works for me," Slippy replied, while Falco and Wolf grunted approval.

"Come on, then, let's go see the stars," Fox suggested as he hopped out of his chair. The screen in the bridge gave an extraordinary augmented view of space, but of course it couldn't compare to the real thing.

The four huddled into the small observation room as if they were monks leading a religious procession. The room was a small dome of solid diamond attached to the top of the ship, affording a full hemisphere of view. Corneria hovered directly above them, a small marble of blue, green, and white. Falco, with his sharp vision, could pick out lightning storms, and pointed them out with a talon.

 _How does it feel, Wolf, to see Corneria like this?_ Fox asked.

Wolf just wrapped his arms around Fox and sent over a smattering of thoughts-the fear and awe when he first saw a Cornerian crusier, the triumph when he first shot one down, the even greater wonder when he saw Corneria from space for the first time, on a flyby to attack the colony in Meteo.

Fox clung to Wolf as he recalled similar memories from his own perspective. He was shaken by the difference between perceptions, and then finally relaxed and allowed them to meld together.

 _What happened then doesn't matter anymore_ , _right?_ he asked himself. _Just now._ _And our perspectives are together no_ _w._

 _You're right_ _,_ Wolf answered. _I'll never be able to forget my past, but I'm glad we can move on together._

Fox looked around to Falco and Slippy. They had stopped admiring the storms, and were looking at Wolf with a new sort of respect.

"Oh, uh, did you get those memories too?" Wolf asked softly.

"Yeah, um, wow. We had no idea," Falco admitted.

"Sorry about that. I'll try to focus a bit more."

"It's okay, Wolf. I think we all understand now," Slippy joined in.

Wolf sighed in relief. "I think I undersand now too."

Four pairs of eyes drifted back to the stars, finally, fully at peace with each other.


	13. War

Chapter 13: War

"Good morning, Commander Bill Grey. The time is 6:00 AM Corneria Standard. Orbit above Papetoon has been maintained at 7,000 kilometers, 430 kilometers per second. Satellites report three sandstorms forming in the northern hemisphere, and two in the southern, with maximum wind speeds of-"

Bill Grey finally dragged himself out of bed and turned off his alarm. He preferred to read the morning updates on a screen, rather than hear them reported by his clock. Though it did help him wake up, he had to admit.

Bill allowed himself twenty minutes in the hot water of the communal showers that morning, twice as long as he would normally take. The thrill of the Lylat War ending had finally given way to the listlessness and boredom of ordinary life. He hated the idea that he could call himself _bored_ now, that he had ever _enjoyed_ the war in any capacity, but it was true. Every day, every hour, had offered a new challenge and a new opportunity, as horrible as it had been. He hoped never to see a war again in his life, but...

 _But what do I even have to look forward to anymore?_ The question finally crystallized in his head. He knew the answer, of course. Drills, recruitment, more drills, research and development, more drills, training, negotiating with the Council and keeping his squadrons in line. All of the normal peacetime activities. But none if it excited him anymore. Still, he would never abandon his squadrons. He had sworn that oath a long time ago, and he was not keen on abandoning it.

Bill quickly made himself a cup of tea and padded to the bridge of his ship, the cruiser _Sahaquiel_ of the Bulldog Squadron. He had put the other cruiser, the _Arael_ of the Husky Squadron, in the hands of a lieutenant he had come to trust during the War.

"Good morning, everyone!" he declared to everyone else on the bridge.

"Good morning," came a chorus of voices, but it was much more quiet than usual.

"Uh, is everything okay, guys?" he asked, his voice falling in level with the others.

"Ugh, well..." another lieutenant named Hardy began as he handed Bill a tablet.

Bill pulled it over. It contained only a short note, and the electronic seal of the Council.

[[Commander Bill Grey,

It has come to our attention that protests have erupted on Papetoon over the passage of new laws concerning the expansion of the mining industry. The Council finds that these protests do not follow the traditional Cornerian laws of political expression, and authorizes you to enforce these laws. You may use force if deemed necessary.]]

Bill scratched his head for a moment. "So they...want us to just mow down the protesters!?"

"We didn't even want to ask," Hardy replied.

"Good choice," Bill sighed. "Well, I think we all know that this order is not acceptable."

"Why not?" A lizard ensign piped up. "We shut down those protests on Eladard when..."

"No!" Bill snapped, handing the tablet forcefully back to Hardy. "That was during a war. It was for their own good. This is different."

"Commander, General Pepper also authorized-" the ensign continued.

"Gener Pepper is dead," Bill snapped again, much louder this time. "Even he understood the value of political expression. We had to ask special permission just to use our batons. This sounds like they'd let us do anything."

"We could just come in, make a show, and say it didn't work," Hardy suggested.

"Hm, I feel like they'd just call in a different squadron. And they might actually do it," Bill mused.

"We need to do something, though," the ensign jumped in a third time. The chatter of the other soldiers on the bridge dropped to silence. Every eye was on Bill now.

"What's your name, ensign?" Bill asked.

"Delma, sir," she replied.

"Well then, Delma, I appreciate your moxy, but now is not the time. You have my respect, but the Council does not. I would rather die for you than them, and I hope you feel the same way."

"Surely that's rather melodramatic?" Delma suggested.

"Maybe, but that's how we soldiers have to think," Bill said with an air of finality.

"Yes, sir," Delma said after a moment of reflection. "I understand."

"Good," Bill replied. "Hardy, tell the Council that we refuse the order, and request further arbitration."

"Uh, sir, actually..." Hard stammered, looking at the tablet.

"What is it?"

"It looks like...our refusal to act has already been interpreted as insubordination. Six suqadrons are en route from Corneria right now."

"Six!?" Bill exclaimed.

"Yes," Hardy continued, not taking his eyes off the tablet. "There are also three coming from Eladard, and two from Aquas, but their movements are strange. I'm not sure all of them are acting under the Council's orders."

Bill's eyes widened into perfect circles. He took a minute to gaze at the view of Papetoon on the screen, with its wide swathes of umber and thin filaments of green. "Okay, Hardy, our goal now is to protect the protesters, and Papetoon in general, as well as we can. I want you to call all of these squadrons and see if any of them are on our side. Don't give away too much info."

"Yes, sir. Anything else?"

"Just man the bridge for the moment. I need to call an old friend."

"Yes, sir. Understood."

"Excellent. And may the Stars have mercy on us."


	14. Stranger

Chapter 14: Stranger

"Hey, look at this Slippy! These superconducting wires are iron selenide. Can you believe they were that cheap?" Falco complained atop his Arwing, shaking a pair of wire clippers like a dagger.

"Huh?" Slippy wheeled out from under his own Arwing's laser cannon. "Falco, you know that iron selenide wire is just as good as cuprate wire if it's coated. And it looks like it is."

Falco frowned. "I still like the cuprate wires better. Everything just feels smoother when we use them, you know?"

Slippy smiled. "It's all in your head, Falco. But I can salvage some cuprate wires from the cargo hold if it would make you feel better."

Falco clicked his beak, not bothering to be coy like he might have been before. "Aw, would you, buddy?"

"For you, Falco? Anything. Fox would have to-"

A clank as the door to the Arwing's bay opened. "Do what, Slippy?" Fox asked as he sauntered in.  
"What would I have to do to get cuprate wires?"

"Ah, uh-buy me ice cream! Like Falco did in the park." Slippy replied, giggling.

"Haha, I'll get you some when we get back," Fox continued. "But I'm fine with iron wires myself. I know it's not wise to compete with Falco."

The avian just shook his head, and the two thought back to all the times they raced as kids. It didn't matter how-on foot, in cars, bicycles, Arwings. Falco was always just a bit faster. One time he had let Fox win, and Fox had been furious about it. Falco had always done his absolute best after that. He wasn't even sure if Fox remembered the incident, but it was a memory that Falco always came back to.

"How is everything going, Fox?" Slippy asked.

"As well as we can expect, I suppose. There's a lot more energy coming from Miyamoto-64 than we saw at first, but it's nothing we can't take on," Fox answered, his tone less certain than his words.

"Where's Wolf, by the way?" Falco asked.

"I think he's still in the simulator," Fox said. "Wanna go help me dig him out? We're going to be there in five hours or so, anyway."

"Good idea!"

Five hours later, the four were gathered together in the bridge of their ship, with Miyamoto-64 in sight ahead of them.

"It's kinda beautiful, isn't it?" Slippy remarked wistfully.

"Might as well enjoy it for the moment," Fox agreed.

"Can I hail them already?" Falco asked, feathers rustling.

"No, let's wait until-" Fox started, but he was cut off by a message notification on the main screen. He turned to Falco and nodded.

Falco snipped his beak and accepted the message. The screen changed to show a disheveled but still well-built chameleon dressed in a black leather jacket. He sat with his legs spread on a chair that looked to be made of metal pipes.

"Greetings!" the chameleon declared. "I am Lord Leon Powalski, of the Worlds of Ice. We welcome all who are dissatisfied with authority in the Lylat system. You look like..."

Wolf froze, and he cast a horrified glance at Fox.

Leon's speech faded off. His eyes dilated and he bared his teeth as he drew closer to his screen.

"Wait, you're Star Fox! And you...is that you, Wolf?"

"Leon," Wolf said softly, turning his head to the side.

"You traitor! You filthy scumbag! I trusted you!" Leon yelled, standing up from his makeshift throne.

"But you just fell apart at the end. You failed us, Wolf," he continued. "If you had come back on your own, things might be different, but to see you with Star Fox..."

Leon spat at the ground. "It's going to be a pleasure to kill you, Wolf. Goodbye."

In the _Spear of Longinus_ , a moment of stunned silence. Wolf stepped to the side and banged his fist against the wall.

"Wolf!" Fox yelled, rushing over and wrapping himself around Wolf from behind. "Wolf, it's okay. Don't let him get to you. We're gonna be fine."

Wolf turned around and slid down against the wall. "He's right, I failed," Wolf sobbed. "I've failed at everything. You rescued me, but I might fail even now."

Fox pulled Wolf up back into a standing position by his shoulder, growling under the exertion.

"That's just not true. You are a fine pilot and a fine warrior. Do you know how terrified we were to hear your name during the Lylat Wars?"

Wolf wouldn't help but smile a bit. That was strange to think about now, actually, Fox being scared to hear his name.

"Fox, they've launched ten ships. They'll be here in ten minutes," Slippy reported without a hint of emotion. "Leon's Wolfen is one of them."

Wolf groaned.

"I can handle Leon if you want," Fox offered, running a hand down Wolf's arm.

"No," Wolf replied. "I want us to capture Leon alive. There's still some good in him, I know it."

Fox stepped back. "Are you sure? Did you hear what he called you?"

Wolf saw a tear at the corner of Fox's eye. "Yes, I swear. I know him. I can handle it."

Fox attempted to smile. "Alright, we'll do it. Everyone, to your ships!"

Slippy and Falco practically jumped over each other as they scrambled to the loading bay.

Fox grabbed Wolf's hand and pulled him along as well. There wasn't enough time to set up all of the carrier's automated defenses, but hopefully they wouldn't need it.

"Need anything?" Fox asked as he watched Wolf climb into his Arwing.

Wolf shook his head. "I'll be alright. I promise."

"Well, I'll be at your wingtip, okay?" Fox assured him. Wolf gave a thumbs up as he put on his helmet, and closed the cockpit.

Fox climbed into his own Arwing and began the familiar routine of activating the ship. "Antimatter core enabled...G-diffuser enabled...electric actuators enabled...gamma-ray reflector enabled..." It was always soothing, to hear the machine come alive in absolute harmony.

Fox opened the loading bay's door and gave the signal for them to ignite their engines. He immediately felt the energy surge and course through his ship. He revved up and grinned madly at the power he commanded. It was the best feeling in the entire Universe.

He trimmed the gamma-ray exhaust and adjusted the infrared heat-dissipation lasers. Fox gave the command from his interface, and all four of them burst out from the carrier, immersed once again in pure and infinite space.

 _This is Fox checking in_ , he signaled through his interface. _How's everyone?_

 _I'm all g_ _reen_ _,_ Slippy replied, slowing down slightly to match Fox's speed.

 _Same here._ Falco, twirling around the other two.

 _Everything looks good._ Wolf, hanging slightly behind and above the rest. _Let's go._

There were five ships directly ahead of them. The other five, including Leon, seemed to be hanging back closer to Miyamoto-64.

 _They'll probably try to separate us first, then sandwich us one by one_ , Fox speculated. _We need to stick together and attack them when they try to circle around._

 _Understood,_ a chorus of voices.

As Fox had predicted, three ships swept in between their ships to try to separate them, while two began to circle around to behind. He flew in closer to Slippy and Falco, while Wolf descended to complete the square. The four fired together on one ship at a time, trying to foil their attempts at coordination.

 _One down!_ Falco whooped as his laser cannon sent the leftmost ship careening into deep space.

 _Falco, watch out!_ Fox swept in from the middle, spooking another ship just enough that it fled and circled around. Slippy slowed down and prepared to engage.

 _Let's go_ _, Slippy!_ Fox called out as he swung around to help Slippy with the other ship. _Wolf, guard our backs._

 _Roger that,_ Wolf replied, circling to cover their blind spots.

 _Second one down!_ Slippy cried as he and Fox tore apart the other ship.

 _Guys, over here!_ Falco, with an enemy craft on each side of him. He had lured them in to make them both easy pickings for the rest.

 _I got you!_ Wolf closed in his circle, and Fox approached from the other side. A few seconds later, the two enemy ships were nothing but clouds of vaporized metal.

 _Phwew_ , _that was fun,_ Fox sighed.

 _Um, guys,_ Falco whispered. _We are not where we should be._

The four of them collectively looked up-or down, depending on one's frame of reference.

Above them the planet Miaymoto-64 hung uncomfortably close, it's cool, low atmosphere just barely brushing against the Arwings. Below them was Leon in his Wolfen, and four other ships, though they were drifting at an odd angle.

 _Shit!_ Fox yelled. _We didn't bother to check our relative velocity, did we?_

 _I hope the carrier's okay,_ Slippy pondered. _If we ended up here, then it might have been going too fast to fall into a stable orbit._

 _Damn. And now Leon has the high ground._ Fox did the mental equivalent of stomping his feet.

 _Guys, it's okay,_ Wolf's mind came in, a welcoming calm. _He always does this. I have a trick that might work. Just follow me._

 _What is it, Wolf?_ _We've never fought this close to a gravity well,_ Fox admitted.

 _In fact, it might work better in an Arwing,_ Wolf continued. _We just need some speed._

Leon and his group began to approach.

 _We have to go!_ Wolf screamed, flipping his ship over and setting his engine to full power.

Wolf tried to send over mental instructions for his maneuver, but he could only hope they got through in the rush of adrenaline.

 _Wolf, are you insane!?_ Fox called out, but he, Falco, and Slippy all flipped over and went to full power as well. The icy plains of Miyamoto seemed to rush forward to greet them.

 _Aaaaaand...now!_ Wolf abruptly cut off his engine and switched on his stabilizers, creating a cushion of red-hot air below him. Improbably, his Arwing began to bounce back up, and skipped across the atmosphere like a rock across water.

 _Yaaaa_ _h_ _!_ Fox and Falco cried together as they tried to interpret Wolf's instructions and replicate the move. Eventually they were able to match speeds. Slippy came bouncing in only a few seconds later.

The four ships with Leon had burst ahead to try to keep pace, but already lost control. Fox watched with sick fascination as they fell into the atmosphere and slowly burnt away.

Leon remained speeding above them.

 _Okay, one more thing,_ Wolf called out, attempting to sound self-assured. He angled his Arwing away from the planet and blasted upward, practically cartwheeling in an arc as he did so. Fox saw that he would end up nearly on top of Leon.

 _Guys, we need to help Wolf!_ Fox commanded. _Surround Leon!_ He blased up at a different angle, hoping to land in front of Leon right as Wolf reached him. Falco and Slippy took to the sides.

 _You'll never catch me!_ Leon's voice suddenly entered their mental spaces.

Wolf seemed to begin thinking of a response, but discarded it quickly. He shot carefully at Leon's exhaust nozzles.

 _Careful..._ Fox picked off the four wings of Leon's craft, leaving an inert cockpit drifting through space.

 _He's still going too fast,_ Slippy warned. He broke off from the formation and sped up to Leon's craft, deploying a tractor field to slow him down.

Falco caught up and fired his physical tether wires, and the two dragged the now-dark block of metal back to Fox and Falco.

 _Is he still alive? Something must've happened; Leon wouldn't go down that easily,_ Wolf commented.

 _Let's worry about that when we get back to the carrier,_ Fox suggested.

 _What about the pirates on the surface? Do you think they have more ships?_ Falco asked.  
 _I don't know,_ Fox responded. _We'll just have to hope for the best._

 _Speaking of which, I found_ _our carrier_ _!_ Slippy chimed in. _Thankfully it got captured in a Molniya orbit._ _If we wait here, it will practically pick us up._

Fox thrustered his ship over so that it was next to Wolf's, and they could see each other through the solid diamond panels of their Arwings. Wolf smiled and gave a salute when he saw Fox peering over.

 _That was quite a trick you pulled, Wolf._

 _I know, sorry about that. I should have talked about it earlier. You followed along well, though._

 _Thanks. We could use some more close-atmosphere practice like that._

 _Yeah._

 _What do you want to do with Leon?_ Fox asked.

 _Just give me some time to talk with him,_ Wolf replied. _I think I can win him over to our side._

 _Do you want us with you, or-_

 _No. I appreciate it, but I want to talk with him alone._

 _I understand._


	15. River

Leon awoke to the smell of tea and the pleasant heat of a heavy blanket around him.

 _Ah, Wolf is making a large batch_ _this morning. I wonder what he's planning today._

He pulled open an eye to see Wolf hunched over him on a small metal chair. He had never seen Wolf's single natural eye so wide and light before.

"Hey, Leon," he whispered. "How're you doing?"  
"Uh-" Leon pulled himself up and looked around. His gasped when he noticed the IV in his arm, and the bloody bandages wrapped around his chest. A year's worth of memories came flooding back to him.

"Wh-what is this!? You have some explaining to do!" Leon attempted to jump out of bed, but fell back when he was caught by the straps on his legs.

"You bastard! You..." Leon sighed and sunk back into bed. He slumped his head and observed his spindly chest rise and fall with labored breaths.

"Leon, please calm down," Wolf hushed, laying a hand down on Leon.

"No! How dare you rescue me, Wolf! I wanted to die with my honor! You showed up here with fucking Star Fox, killed my teammates, and then spared me..."

In a flash, Leon ripped off the straps around his legs and leapt off the bed, knocking Wolf from his chair and wrapping both hands around his neck. Blood spurted from where the IV had been in his arm.

"You know, Wolf, you were always too merciful. One day-"

Leon didn't get to finish. Wolf flipped the two of them over, pinned Leon under his knees, and slapped him hard across the face. Leon coughed, and blood dripped from his mouth.

"I will not tolerate this," he yelled. "You abandoned me, remember? You're the one who lost faith in Star Wolf. You chose your own path, and you made a mistake."

Wolf braced himself for an equally acidic retort, but nothing came. Instead, he saw Leon's eyes begin to drip tears as his mouth dripped blood. The two fluids mixed in the diamond pattern of the metal floor, giving it a weird pink sheen.

"Oh, Leon, I'm sorry," Wolf spat through closed teeth, and he began to cry too. "You're right, you're all too right. I wasn't a good leader. By every Star, I'm so sorry..."

Wolf picked up Leon's nearly-limp body and placed him gently on the bed. He put some medi-paste over the hole in Leon's arm, and closed up the IV.

Wolf pulled out a few extra blankets from the closet, and tucked them in closely. He knelt down and placed his head on the bed so that it was level with Leon's.

"We've been through so much together, Leon," Wolf said. "I don't want to lose you now. I can't bear to see you like this."

"It's been hell," Leon interrupted. "We barely have enough to eat."

"It's gonna be better now, I promise," Wolf reassured him. "Everything's changed. Andross is dead, General Pepper is dead; nothing from our old lives matters anymore."

Leon's face went blank. "I know; we've been listening to the broadcasts. But we didn't hear anything about you or Fox."

"There's a lot that Fox and I don't understand either. But we're trying."

"Forgive me for assuming, but are you and Fox...together?"

Wolf gulped. "Yes. We are."

"Ah. Think it'll last?"

"Yes. I know it will."

"Good. I'm glad you've found someone permanent."

"Me too. Uh, how about you?"

"No. Still not interested in that stuff."

"Right."

"Wolf, can I have some tea?"

"Of course." Wolf went over and poured a cup.

"You'll need to help me up to drink; I'm too weak now," Leon instructed in an even tone.

"No problem." Wolf sat on the bed and pulled Leon up to a sitting position, stabilizing him against his own shoulder. He brought the cup to Leon's lips and tilted it slowly, until he saw that Leon stopped sipping.

"You did always make good tea," Leon said in the same even tone.

"Thanks," He put the cup back down on the table and began to stand up, but Leon exterted an infinitesimal pressure on him, holding him back.

"Are you okay, Leon?"

"Yeah, I just...I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm sorry I ran away. That was unforgivable. I don't take back what I said but I see what I did was wrong."

"Um, thanks. That means a lot to me."

"I bet you didn't expect to see me here, did you?"

"No, I didn't. I was expecting the worst, to be honest."

"Heh, did you think I was dead?"

"I was afraid of it."

"But why would you care?"

"What are you talking about!? Of course I care! I'm happy to see you again."

Leon huffed. "If you had really cared, you would have gone looking for me."

"Do you really think I didn't?"

Leon detached his arms from Wolf and hung his head for a moment. "You know, at first I was happy to be alone, but...it was fun being in Star Wolf."

"It was fun for me too. Do you remember when we stole those biological samples from Eladard?"

"Yeah! And then we forget about them after delivering those plasma cannons to MacBeth."

"Thank the Stars we got the ships cleaned out before we got back to Venom."

"No thanks to you, Wolf. You didn't want to stop at first."

"I guess that was a bad idea, heh."

"Yes, it was."

"Leon, I know I wasn't always the best leader-"

Leon snarled. "Wolf, you were a terrible leader. I should've known from the beginning."

Wolf folded his arms. "Well, you didn't make it easy! It was hard juggling between you and Algy, and then Pigma. You all wanted completely different things."

"So? It was your job to make us work together."

"I _tried_. You were just stubborn. You gave Algy nightmares about knives; did you know that?"

Leon blinked. "Why should I care? He was a stuck-up bastard."

"I'm not disagreeing, but that doesn't matter. You still have to work as a team."

"You could've set a better example."

Wolf sank his face into his hands. "I know. Look, I'm not here to remake Star Wolf, or to prove a point, or anything. I'm just here because...you're my friend."

"Wolf, stop playing this game."

"I'm serious, Leon."

Leon rolled his head over on the pillow. "But why? You were just complaining about how much trouble I was."

"So what? I know you're good, deep in your heart. You were always there for me when it mattered."

"You think so?"  
"Of course! You were there when we stole those Wolfens and left the Academy. When we stole our first shipment of Cornerian weapons..."

"That was fun."

"Yeah, it was! 'Cause you were there with me!"

"Would you do it over again?"

Wolf paused. "Yes. But I'm glad I don't have to."

"Me too."

"It really is good to see you, Leon. I'm sorry it's not under better circumstances."

Leon huffed and turned away.

Wolf touched a finger to his shoulder. "I'm being serious, Leon. I want to work with you again."

"You have Fox now, don't you?"  
"True, but he's not you. You'll always have a special place with me, I promise."

Suddenly, Leon let out a sob and turned around again, wrapping his arms around Wolf. "Wolf, I-ugh-I'm glad to see you again."

"Do you remember how we met? In the Venomian Academy?" Wolf asked, frozen.

"Yeah! I challenged you to a one-on-one in the simulator," Leon replied.

"And I won!" Wolf chuckled.

"You sure did."

"Can I confess something, Leon?"  
"What?"

"I didn't actually graduate. I failed Astrogation by one point."

"Are you serious!? Is that why you always had me navigate?"  
"Yes. And you were good at it, too."

"I tried."

"Nobody else could have gotten us away from that scrape on Katina."

"Thanks, Wolf. That was a good moment for me. But you saved me quite a few times."

"I care about you, Leon. Like you said, Algy was so full of himself, and Pigma had no loyalty."

"Strange how he died on Fichina," Leon pointed out.

Wolf grew stiff. "Oh. That's confession number two."

"Um?" Leon shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah. I killed him. When I learned that he killed James."

"You mean, Fox's dad?"

"Right."

Leon whistled. "Whew. What a crazy, tangled web you've weaved."

"No kidding. Fox and I have talked about it."

" _That_ must've been a weird conversation."

Wolf flashed back to the museum, the tungsten arwing, and the way he had wrapped his arms around Fox.

"It was. But it ended up well."

Suddenly there was a loud banging on the door. Wolf put Leon back down on the bed, and opened it slowly. He had really hoped to spend more time alone with Leon.

Fox burst in, eyes locked wide open. "Sorry-Wolf-but-Bill-called,-there's-protests-on-Papetoon-and- Corneria's-fleets-are-all-converging-there-and-" he stammered.

"Whoa, whoah," Wolf grabbed his partner's shoulders. "What's happening?"

"I'm so stupid, Wolf, I'm SO STUIPD!"

"Fox, stop it!" He nearly drew his hand back reflexively, but he thought of Leon and simply pulled Fox tight against his chest. "You're not stupid. Whatever happened, we can fix it."

Fox pulled himself away and took a breath. "Okay, Bill just called me. He says that protests erupted on Papetoon and they were instructed to mow them down. Bill refused, and now the Council is sending every ship in the Lylat system at them. The thing is, he suspects that some of the other squadrons aren't loyal to the Council."

Wolf blinked. "Wow. Okay. That's a lot to take in."

"We have to help Bill! I'd never forgive myself if he died while I'm out here!" Fox yelped, hopping on his toes. "I bet the Council sent us out now so that we'd be distracted while they moved in. I can't believe I fell for it."

"Fox, you can't beat yourself up like this. I didn't see it either," Wolf said, though his voice cracked. "We'll get back to Papetoon."

"I know. But Bill can't hold out that long." Fox switched from hopping to pacing.

"Wait," Leon rasped. "Are you telling me you plan on fighting against Corneria?"

Fox stopped. "Yes, Leon, that's exactly right."

"Then count me in!" Leon coughed, and sat up in his bed. "This sounds like a perfect job to restart my career."

Wolf chuckled, but Fox grimaced. "Alright, but you're on my ship now, okay? I'm the captain."

Leon raised his hands. "Understood."

Wolf gave Fox an odd look. "Don't trust him, Fox?"  
"Huh? That's not it, I just-"

"Fox, if you're willing to be boyfriends with your old worst enemy, then you can find it in yourself to trust his teammates."

Fox gulped. "I'm sorry, you're right. Welcome aboard, Leon."

For the first time in over a year, Leon smiled. "I look forward to it, Fox."

"Good," Fox had settled down, and was leaning against the wall, with his eyes on the pink puddle next to Leon's bed.

"We can't take three days to get back, though. Unless..."

"What are you thinking, Fox?" Leon asked, tilting his head.

"Uh, I dunno. We could overclock the warp drive. Slippy did that once, on the Great Fox, but I don't know if we have enough energy."

Leon lay back down on his bed. "Well, I've got a hundred kilograms of antimatter sitting around on Miyamoto. I had been hoping to use it for smart bombs, but this is a bit more pressing."

Fox's jaw dropped. "Would you really? We could probably get to Papetoon in less than a day with that sort of power!"

"What sort of ship do you have?" Leon asked, restraining his enthusiasm.

"Just a regular Cornerian carrier," Fox replied, almost embarrassed.

"Hm, Panther should be able to help with it then. Let's set him up with Slippy."

"Panther?" Wolf raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, my first mate," Leon said, sitting back up again. "I think you'll both like him."

"Would the rest of your crew be willing to go along with this?" Wolf tapped his foot on the floor.

"I'm sure of it!" Leon exclaimed. "Do you know how long we've waited for a moment like this?"

Fox barked a laugh. "I bet you didn't expect it to happen this way, though, did you?"

Leon shook his head. "No, but...I'm glad. I think it will all be for the best."

"As long as we can get to Bill in time," Fox said.

Leon cast a sideways glance at Wolf. "I understand. I know how important it is to come back for a friend."


	16. Cold Trees

"From the beginning of civilization to the time of the earliest rockets, Cornerians have had a fascination with Papetoon. From the surface of Corneria, the world appears to be an orange dot, slightly larger than a star. Once telescopes were developed, natural philosophers were shocked to see stripes of blue and green cutting across the dusty landscape. The public was quick to entertain fanciful visions of civilizations based around the rivers and lakes, older and wiser perhaps than even Corneria itself.

However, after centuries of attempted contact, beginning with paper messages sent up by gunpowder rockets, it became clear that Papetoon hosted no intelligent life of its own. It was not that Papetoon couldn't support such a civilization-it had liquid water, oxygen, plants, even insects. It simply didn't. This led many scientists to conclude that although life in general might be common, intelligent life must be very rare. Of course, contact with Venom dispelled this belief, but that is a story for another book entirely.

During the progress of the early Spacefaring Era, the initial disappointment soon enough gave way to a new kind of excitement: the fever of growth and expansion. As population continued to boom, and industrial technology spread and evolved, resource and energy consumption increased exponentially. Governments and corporations alike soon realized that their own world would not be enough to meet their ever-increasing desires. More and more eyes turned to Papetoon as the solution.

In year 1025 L.C., or year 35 of the Second Republic, several corporations (none of them now extant except for Tabe Food Group) organized to create the Papetoon Colonization Initiative. For several decades, the Initiative bumbled about without much publicity, producing elaborate plans and concepts for colonization, but not actually getting closer to its goal. All this changed when the Second Republic was overthrown, and Bonito Mouseleni established herself as dictator. She saw that a hunger for resources had caused the instability that allowed her to come to power, and hoped to avoid being overthrown in a similar situation by opening Papetoon up for resource extraction. "Her Excellency" Mouseleni seized the Colonization Initiative and agreed to pay the founding corporations a portion of the profits.

Under this system, colonization of Papetoon proceeded rapidly. After the first Cornerian colonists landed on Papetoon in 1068 L.C., it was like a valve had been opened. Papetoon's population grew to one million only two years later, and reached its current level of 130 million only fifty years later. Corneria's population peaked at 6.5 billion, higher than the current figure of 5 billion, and its economy entered a previously unthinkable spiral of growth. With cheap food and minerals flowing in from the enormous and (mostly) automated farms and mines of Papetoon, it seemed suddenly that everyone on the Home World could afford a bigger house and a new car. Genetic therapy was perfected and became ubiquitous.

Of course, nothing lasts forever. It became clear all too quickly that Papetoon was an even more delicate ecosystem than Corneria, and it could not permanently sustain the level of development that had suddenly been thrust upon it. Farms began to fail as the soil was depleted, and mines began to run out as prospectors were baffled by the unfamiliar geology. Of course, demand from Corneria simply did not run out.

Formerly content to be governed by another planet as long as their wallets kept growing, the people of Papetoon began to consider indpendence. A dramatic shift in the culture occurred as people became fiercely environmentalist and independent-minded. Sadly, though Papetoon has certainly made several valiant efforts, the world is simply no match for Cornerian military might. Corneria may have lifted its finger a bit since the days of Mouseleni, and reduced its demand for materials out of sheer necessity, but there is no question that the finger is there, and it has no plans to leave."

-Excerpt from "A Brief History of Space Exploration" by Leopard Nimoy.

"Wow, Leon, you did well for yourself," Wolf whistled as they stepped through the airlock.

"Thanks, but most of this is salvaged from old research stations," Leon replied, scratching at some rust on the wall. "And I couldn't have done it without my crew."

"Speaking of them, how many are there?" Fox looked around the large dome, filled with tubes and pipes and old machines of uncertain function.

"There's fift-I mean, eleven now," Leon stuttered, and Wolf noticed a grimace flash over the lizard's face. "Mostly defectors from the Venomian military. A few Katinans, too."

"My Lord!" a deep rumbling voice from the opposite side of the dome. A panther in an elaborate purple jumpsuit embroidered with roses bounded across the floor, landed silently in front of Leon, and bowed deeply.

"All the antimatter has been packaged and is ready to go. Everyone is preparing their own personal effects now, and should be ready within an hour."

"Good. Thank you, Panther. We'll have just enough time for the funeral, then," Leon's tail swept ponderously across the smooth floor.

Fox's throat tightened. _I did just kill four of his teammates, didn't I?_ _And Leon still agreed to work with me._

"What are you going to do?" Fox asked, tapping his foot.

Leon sighed. "Well, _you_ , Slippy, and Falco are going to take their personal items and give them to whomever they willed it. Wolf and I will light a fire for them in the meeting room, since we don't have their bodies. Panther will show you where to go."

"Right," Fox nodded.

"This way," Panther extended a hand, as if leading a dance. Fox grabbed it from sheer reflex, and tried to jump in sync with the feline's elegant bouncing in this world's feeble gravity. Slippy and Falco followed behind.

As they went through the door into a low, dim hallway, Fox stole a glance at Wolf and Leon making their way into what must be the meeting room. The two looked for all the galaxy like they were priests leading an enormous procession behind them.

"So, you are team Star Fox," Panther asked, pausing for a moment to adjust his suit.

"Yes, that's right," Fox replied. "Or at least, we used to be."

"Of course," Panther started walking again towards yet another hallway, this one larger and better lit, with rows of doors on each side adorned with nametags. "Are you all from Corneria?"

"Yes," Fox replied simply. "What about you?"

"Venom," he whispered. "I spent a while as a privateer before going independent. That led me to Leon."

"What do you think of him?" Fox gazed at the nametags, most of them handwritten on paper.

"He's too quiet and impulsive, but loyal. Passionate," Panther stated with surprising frankness. "Oh, here's Harrier's room."

Fox opened the door to reveal a small bed covered in bright clothing, and a desk piled with weapons kits. On the wall was an old photograph with an avian child holding an enormous bucket of popcorn, flanked by two smiling avian adults.

"So, is that Harrier? The kid?" Fox asked as he looked over the weapons kits.

"Why do you care?" Panther crossed his arms. "Isn't this just a plus one to your kill count?"

"That's not it!" Fox snapped, though he didn't move. "We were at war. We all killed. I didn't enjoy it."

"But this one matters more to you, somehow?" Panther flicked his tail against the bed.

"Yes," Fox turned to face Panther. "It behooves me to know Leon's teammates. If I had realized that we'd be working together-" Fox sat down on the bed, and let a few tears drip from his eyes.

"They died without any meaning."

"And the soldiers you killed in the war, they _did_ have a meaning?" Panther sat down next to Fox.

Fox grabbed a pink shirt from the bed, and unfolded it in front of him. "I guess I don't know. But I hope so."

Panther stood up and pulled out a piece of paper from the desk. "Me too."

"So why were you messing with me, then!?" Fox stood up and grabbed the paper from Panther.

"We just came to the same conclusion."

"Can you blame me for missing them?" Panther swished his tail solemnly.

Fox didn't answer. Instead he unfolded the paper and read it aloud.

"To Hawk, I give my clothing. To Kanis, my weapons. Everything else can go to Yume as they see fit. Make sure the photo gets to Shepard."

He folded it back up again, as if afraid to see it any longer than he had to. "Easy enough," Fox mumbled. "Who are the other three?"  
"Skip, Chryson, and Xing," Panther replied.

"Let's go, then," Fox said.

Fox, Slippy, and Falco gathered up the items of the four they had killed, and made their way with Panther to the meeting room.

Wolf, Leon, and the rest of his teammates stood in a circle around a large table. At the center of it was a small, yellow fire burning self-contained inside of a space suit's helmet, sustained by a small canister of oxygen. Leon cleared his throat and began to speak in a surprisingly clear voice.

"Hello everyone. I know it's not our style to have a big meeting like this, and I'm not good at speaking, but I thought it was necessary."

Fox looked around at Leon's teammates, all watching their leader with interest, at least, if not outright devotion.

"Some things have happened recently which may change everything for us. For one, my old leader from Star Wolf has returned, bringing team Star Fox with him."

"If I had realized this in advance, I would have acted differently, and perhaps we would not have to hold a funeral right now," Leon coughed and paused for a moment.

"I can't express how much pain it causes me to have lost four good pilots all at once. I know that you all feel the same way. Perhaps they would be honored to know that they had been killed by the greatest mercenaries the Lylat cluster has ever known."

A wave of awkard laughter.

"Or perhaps not. In any case, it is our duty to remember who they were and what they meant. This way their lives and deaths will still have meaning."

"Harrier was a drug smuggler. Skip was just a cabin boy down on his luck. Chryson was a privateer, and Xing was a Flight Academy dropout. But they all wanted lives away from the powers that had destroyed their lives to begin with."

"Now we may have that chance. And for their sake, we must not miss it."

"It would be better if Harrier, Skip, Chryson, and Xing could fight with us. But for now, we can only hope that they may find peace while we continue our fight. And we will join them when it is our time," Leon concluded, his voice faltering. Everyone stomped or clapped in approval. Even Fox whistled. He had never imagined seeing Leon so heartfelt before.

Fox began to scan the circle for the recipients of those unforunate gifts he was holding. _At least Panther had taken care to point everyone out beforehand,_ he considered. He saw Slippy doing the same thing, shuffling slowly to a surprisingly young-looking simian man. Falco was already talking with a tall, burly canid.

Fox walked over to a black-feathered avian he knew to be Hawk.

"Hey," Fox held his head. "Here's um-Harrier wanted you to have her clothing."

Hawk blinked in surprise. "Is that so? Thanks." He took the small pile from Fox's hand and stuffed it casually in his bag.

"I'm sorry," Fox stammered, but Hawk clicked his beak and put a hand on Fox's muzzle.

"It's okay," he said in a single puff of air. "Nobody knew what was going on. Just don't talk about it anymore. Leon explained we'll be working together."

"Right," Fox pulled his head up and gave a salute. "I'm sorry it isn't under better circumstances."

"Would you have ever worked with a Venomian drug smuggler before?"

"Uh, no."

"Then I'd say circumstances are getting better."

Fox smiled thinly and shook his head. "I guess so."

Fox returned the other items as quickly as he could, then found his way back to Wolf and Leon.

"That was a good speech," Fox said, almost despite himself.

"Thank you," Leon replied. "I hope I never have to do it again."

"I don't exactly know what we'll be up against on Papetoon," Fox admitted. "We might all be dead by this time tomorrow."

"That's a fine way to die, regardless," Leon beamed.

Wolf wrapped a hand around Fox's waist and gave him a quick kiss. "We'll just have to get going and give our best."

Fox looked up at his partner and returned this kiss. "I couldn't do this without you."

"Me neither. And I'm glad I don't have to."


	17. Bones

"Hey, Fox!" Bill's booming voice filled the bridge of the carrier. "Glad you could make it!"

It took Fox a few seconds to respond. His jaw dropped at the sight before him.

Papetoon lay obscured under a tangle of Cornerian cruisers, clouds of hot pink plasma, and webs of green laser fire. Uncountable fighters buzzed through the tangle like angry insects.

"Bill!" Fox finally forced his vocal cords back into service. "Where are you!? This is worse than Titania!"

"I'm so glad you're here! We're down close to the atmo' right now. Here's the friendly ships; feel free to shoot everything else!"

Fox glanced at the holographic map of the world he had once called home. A spread of blue sparkles appeared. Everything else turned a sickly orange. The capital, Itoh City, was drifting steadily across the night line towards the day, and the fuming cloud of warfare in orbit above.

Fox gulped, and his ears flopped down. "Understood! We'll clean up this mess!"

He whipped around and considered his companions. "Alright, guys, we can do this! Wolf, Falco, you'll be with me on the dreadnoughts. Slippy and Leon, stay here and man the bridge. Everyone else, form a perimeter and keep everything bundled as tight as possible. I don't know how this battle will turn out. The odds are against us, but we have to fight for our worlds! Everyone do your best!"

As if on cue, the ship rocked and buckled under the impact of a bomb. Yellow warning lights flooded the space, and blaring klaxons drowned out any further speech.

Everyone scrambled to their tasks. Fox saw Leon practically pick up Slippy and carry him to his position on the bridge, where the amphibian immediately began looking at the damage reports. Leon stood by him as Slippy began handing the tall reptile a set of tools.

Much to Fox's delight, Leon's crew seemed quite disciplined and coordinated, filing neatly into the cargo hold and taking off in their ships one by one. They were all jalopies, of course, stitched together from anything that would work after years without proper maintenance. He could only hope it would be enough.

Fox scrambled into his own Arwing and blasted off once he saw that everyone else had gotten out safely. He brought himself between Falco and Wolf, who had taken an interest in a modern Cornerian dreadnought at the edge of the fray.

 _Ready to rock and roll?_ Fox asked.

 _Never been more ready!_ Falco answered immediately.

Wolf simply flashed over a fire of excitement and rage.

Unlike the brief, ill-fated fight with Leon's crew, this felt _good_ again. It felt _right_. Fox knew what to expect. He could almost forget the Universe outside, let it slip away until there was just himself, his ship, and his target.

A lot of pilots insisted that flying a space fighter was more of an art than a science. Fox didn't know what they were talking about. Everything was intuitive, sure, but it was all known. It was a science. It was all exact and precise. It could be transferred and taught and done over and over again, exactly the right way every time. If you knew what you were doing, of course.

The engineers who had built this marvelous craft, this Arwing, had known what they were doing. So did the technicians that maintained it and fueled it. Even the politicians who had funded its initial development had known what they were doing. Fox was just the end point in a massive chain of people doing their best, and he wanted to honor them all.

 _Wow, Fox, I had no idea you could be so pretentious_ , Wolf flashed over. He could sense Falco laughing to himself. _Great shooting, though. Did you even realize you took down their subspace antennae?_

Fox blushed, and his mind crept back into itself.

 _Oh, w_ _ow_ _, you really_ _do_ _believe_ _all_ _that,_ Wolf realized.

 _You must have felt something similar about Venom,_ Fox suggested.

A few moments passed.

 _..._ _Maybe, but mostly_ _I just wanted to survive._

 _We could certainly use that mindset now,_ Falco noted.

The three had made nearly a full circuit around the dreadnought, taking stock of its numerous laser cannons.

Fox took a breath. _Okay, I think we should take each_ _cannon_ _together. Falco, you distract the automatic defenses. Wolf, you take the batteries, and I'll shoot down the barrel. That should get everything._

 _Sounds good,_ Wolf sped up next to Fox.

 _Finally, something fun,_ Falco rolled over the two of them and blasted ahead.

The avian made circles around the turret, practically mocking its automated targetic capabilities, while Fox and Wolf approached slowly together and fired at nearly the same time. The cannon exploded in a satisfying bubble of raw plasma.

 _One down, twenty-three to go,_ Fox let himself drift as close to the ship as he could, and thrusted away at the last minute.

The three made quick work of the cannons, pausing only to pick off other fighters that dared to stray too close.

 _Stars, this thing is enormous!_ Wolf remarked as they flew across to the other side of the ship. _Must be four kilometers long, at least._

 _Four and a half,_ Fox replied. _And a hundred meters across._ _It's got a_ _three-phase_ _fusion reactor with a power rating of 50 gigawatt_ _s, and eight FTL thrusters._

 _Heh, Fox, you're talking about this ship like a man's body,_ Wolf teased.

 _Don't worry, Wolf, I think you're more sexy than any ship._

 _Can you two stop flirting and get back to work?_ Falco cut in. _We should try to steer this thing_ _into a higher orbit._

 _Understood,_ Fox and Wolf replied at once, falling back into formation to take out the remaining cannons.

 _Alrighty, everyone,_ Panther called out to his crew. _You heard what Fox said. But I think we can improve on it, don't you?_

 _Always!_ Yume exclaimed. _What do you have in mind?_

 _We'll make a perimeter,_ Panther answered, _But he never said we couldn't siphon off some ships for us to take, don't you think?_ _I doubt he'd be unhappy with us._

A collective smile broke out among the string of ragtag spacers. This could be their fight as much as Fox's.

 _Panther, have you ever seen dolphins?_ Sika, an older deer woman, asked. _They live on Aquas. They hunt fish by forcing them into a ball and taking turns diving in, scooping up as much as they can._

 _That's a great idea_ , Panther swept up and led his team to a higher orbit, and they fanned out like a giant celestial hand coming in to grab its prey.

 _Oh, but wait. Whiskard?_ Panther asked.

 _Yessir?_ a young otter asked.

 _Would you go keep an eye on Wolf? He'd never admit if he needs help, so you'll have to let us know._

 _Understood!_ The mustelid's ship peeled off from the group to make broad circles around the two canids, who were tearing apart the bridge of a dreadnought.

 _Hm, I wonder if this is how General Pepper felt,_ Bill mused as he paced across the bridge of his ship, one eye darting to and from the carnage on the screen. It was dizzying to see the closer ships whip past and around his own like giant insects, while the ships farther away appeared to drift slowly and calmly like a cloud.

He was glad that Leon's crew seemed to be well-disciplined. Still, there were better things they could be doing than circling around and picking off the odd fighter that strayed too far. It would be better for them to group up and take on one thing at a time. Together, they could probably obliterate the carriers. Bill decided to call the feline, Panther, who seemed to be leading the group.

"Yes?" a charcoal black face against a silver helmet, painted with crimson roses, appeared on the screen.

"Oh, uh, hi. Panther, is it?" Bill stammered. "I was thinking, wouldn't it be more effective for your people to group together and take on one thing at a time? If you follow me, we could take out a lot of carriers together."

Panther's neutral expression slowly turned into a smile. "That does sound good. Fox had instructed us to make a perimeter, though."

Bill laughed. "I may be Fox's friend, but I don't care what he said! You'll follow me."

Panther licked his lips and chuckled. "Well, Bill, I like you already. I'll round them up."

In only a few minutes, Panther and his crewmates had formed a ring around Bill's cruiser.

Bill found himself with butterflies in his stomach as he shifted phases on his ship, and directed it towards the nearest carrier. _Panther is...really cute_ , he finally admitted to himself.

 _But that's ridiculous,_ he continued. _Who knows if he's gay or not?_

 _He's from Venom, so there's a chance,_ one part of his mind argued.

 _Venom has straight people too,_ he countered himself. But still, he hadn't felt like this since he had first met Fox. In fact, this was even stronger now.

But he would have to put all this to the side for now. There were things to blow up.

 _Well, there goes Panther,_ Wolf noted to Fox while the two rested on a tiny asteroid for a few minutes. _So much for the perimeter you asked him to keep._

 _Hah, Bill convined_ _them_ _to go with him, right?_

 _Yep._

 _I think we'll be okay,_ Fox blasted his side thrusters a bit, stirring up a cloud of regolith that hung suspended for several minutes before dissipating in the solar wind.

 _We need to get back. The rest of the fighters are clumping together. They'll be a nuisance if we don't take care of them now._

 _You're right,_ Wolf sighed. _Back to the grind._

 _No rest for the best,_ Fox sped away from the asteroid, and Wolf followed close behind.

 _How do you wanna do this,_ _Fox_ _?_

 _I bet we can catch them between the wreckage from that dreadnought, and the_ _big_ _power array. Then we just have to make sure nobody escapes from the side._

 _Are you sure? We'll have to be very fast. What if something goes wrong?_

 _Do you have a better idea?_

 _Not really._

 _We'll be fine._

The two parted and made broad, looping spirals around their targets, steadily getting closer and closer until the remaining fighters convered into a single cloud.

 _Fox, watch out!_ Wolf swept in and shot down a pair of stray fighters, too close for comfort.

 _Hey, I was getting to those,_ Fox complained.

 _Too bad,_ Wolf smiled, but he couldn't disguise his deeper concern. _It doesn't bother you that you're fighting other Cornerians, right? They're your enemies just as much as Venom wa_ _s._

 _I know,_ Fox slowed up and targeted a fighter coming down on them from above. Aim, lock, fire, bang. Done. _I promise I'm fine._

 _Alright, I trust you,_ Wolf relented. _Just be careful, love._

 _You too,_ Fox replied in neutral gray.

The two continued to circle around for a while, leisurely thinning the cloud of fighters as some of the dreadnoughts began to break apart and fall towards Papetoon.

It was almost too easy, at least until-

Fox heard a brief buzz of static over his interface. He looked over and saw Wolf's ship careening away from the planet at a steep angle. A cruiser was sneaking up on him from below.

Fox observed himself with a bizarre, detached horror as his mind completely failed to react to the situation in front of him. A cruiser was sneaking up on Wolf from below.

 _Wolf!_ He called out several seconds later, but got only static in reply. Fox's heart nearly froze in his chest. How had he let his guard down?

Fox took a moment to examine the remaining fighters starting to crowd around him. He couldn't care about them now. The cruiser was getting dangerously close to Wolf.

 _Fox,_ he finally heard in reply. _Power array hit me._ _I'm bleeding out._ _Just let me go._ _Save Papetoon._

 _Like Hell I will!_ Fox set his ship to the highest acceleration and sped through the rest of the fighters, not even bothering to fire back. He finally got through with no laser cannon, and half of a left wing.

Wolf was puttering around in circles, just fast enough to avoid the cruiser's laser cannons.

 _Wolf, status report!_ Fox demanded. _I'll drop my bombs on the ship and get you out._

 _No_ _! You'll blow yourself up!_ _Get away while you can._

 _Don't say that!_ Fox turned off Wolf's channel. He was partly right. It was possible to blow up a cruiser with only three bombs, but the maneuver required accelerations that Fox didn't trust himself with. Only Falco had even attempted it before, over Fortuna, and he had blown out his G-diffuser.

But he had to. He would rather die now than continue without Wolf. He could only hope that Wolf would forgive him if he didn't make it.

 _Alright, one, two, three,_ Fox steeled himself as he identified the points on the cruiser's hull he had to hit, and tried to plot his escape path. Fortunately Wolf was in a convenient place to grab.

He closed his eyes (not that it mattered; he could still see from the cameras in his ship, linked to his brain) and dropped the three bombs, trusting the accelerations to his deepest instincts.

Suddenly there was a flash, and Fox sped away to where he still felt Wolf's signal. He activated his tractor beam and opened his eyes with relief when he saw Wolf's ship still attached behind him.

 _Slippy! Leon!_ Fox called out. _We need help!_

 _This is Whiskard_ , an otter unfamiliar to Fox called in. _I've called Leon; they're setting up the med room now._

 _Thank you!_

 _Of course,_ Whiskard saluted and flew back to his group.

 _This is Leon,_ the reptile called in. He looked exhausted. _We're close to you anyway. Just stay where you are and I'll open the cargo bay._

Fox spent the next few minutes in a nervous fervor as he shot at anything that got too close to them. Wolf was silent, but he seemed stable. Finally he saw the _Spear of Longinus_ ascend in front.

 _Wolf, can you pilot your ship?_ _I could tractor you into the cargo bay, but it'll be smoother if you can do it._

 _Yeah...yeah...I'll...be...fine._ Wolf replied. He broke off from Fox's tractor beam and came to his side, giving a weak thumbs-up. Fox could see a huge shard of metal sticking out from Wolf's leg.

Fortunately Wolf was still able to land safely on his own. He opened his cockpit but made no apparent effort to get out. Fox practically jumped out of his own Arwing, and scrambled over.

Wolf was in fact pinned to his seat by the metal beam in his right leg. Most of the rest of the cockpit was covered with repair gel, and his leg was practically engulfed in medical foam. His torso seemed okay, but he was bleeding from his mouth, and the fur on his arms had been burnt off.

Fox sat down on the side of the cockpit and held Wolf's arm, trying his hardest not to burst into tears. "Wolf, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have let you..."

Wolf growled in response. "Don't say that! I'm sorry I let my guard down."

Fox allowed his head fall down onto Wolf's shoulder, and let his tears flow. "No, it was my fault. The power array was a bad idea."

"We didn't-" but Wolf was interrupted by a fit of coughing. Fox stepped into the cockpit and tried to wipe a way the blood from Wolf's mouth with his scarf. He realized dimly that the two things were the exact same color.

"Fox!" he heard out from behind. He turned to see Slippy with a box of medical gear, and Leon holding a saw.

Leon made an extraordinary single leap into the cockpit, and sat down to examine Wolf's leg.

"Wow, you did a good job patching yourself up, Wolf. Just hold still and we'll get you out in a minute."

"What can I do?" Fox asked, after he had helped pull Slippy up. The amphibian pulled out a roll of bandages and began wrapping them around Wolf's arm.

"Just hold him still," Leon replied over the screech of his saw. "It will be best to cut off this shard from the bottom."

"Alright." Fox straddled Wolf's lap and hugged him tightly. Wolf returned the hug and gave Fox a tight, desperate kiss. Fox shivered at the taste of his partner's blood.

"It's okay, Wolf," Fox cooed. "We're here, you'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay, done!" Leon declared, moving Wolf's leg into a more natural position. "Why don't you take his arms, Fox?"

"Right," Fox stepped up and grapped Wolf's arms from behind. Slippy did what he could to stabilize Wolf's torso, and the three slowly, carefully hoisted Wolf out of his Arwing onto a stretcher.

Fox winced every time Wolf yelped, but he couldn't falter.

"We have anaesthetic," Slippy remarked. "It might be best for you to be asleep now."

"No!" Wolf cried. "I want to stay awake. Just stop the pain."

"Okay. I wish I had paid more attention when Peppy did this..." Slippy muttered has he took out a syringe and jammed it into Wolf's neck.

"GYAH!...huh..." Wolf shuddered, and his limbs splayed out limply.

Leon wheeled him quickly into the medical room.

"How do you think he'll be?" Fox asked as he helped hoist Leon onto a real bed, and Slippy set up an IV.

"He'll be fine," Leon placated. "It will take at least a week for his arms to heal, and at least a month for his leg. But nothing permanent."

"Good," Fox exhaled, just realizing that he hadn't been breathing. "So I'd better get back out there."

Slippy gave Fox a look of horror. "Are you kidding!? You're in no state to keep flying either. Panther and Bill can handle the rest."

Fox scratched his arms. He knew it was true. But the guilt was overwhelming. He whimpered and kicked a stray roll of bandages.

"Fox, stay with me please." Wolf croaked.

"Of course," Fox pulled up a chair and sat next to his partner. "What a disaster this has become."

"We did our best," Wolf reached out and grabbed Fox's hand.

"I just hope it's enough."

"It'll be what it is." Wolf turned over to look at Fox with his piercing red eyes.

"Wolf, would you-" Fox cut off abruptly.

"What is it?"

Fox shook his head. "Maybe now's not the best time."

"Just tell me."

"Do you wanna get married? Like, now, here on Papetoon?" Fox swished his tail.

Wolf laughed. It was a shallow rasping sound, but it resonated deeply in Fox's heart.

"Of course! I was starting to worry I'd have to ask."

Fox sighed, and scratched behind Wolf's ear. "That makes me feel better."

Wolf adjusted his head to take advantage of Fox's fingers. "I'd never imagined getting married before."

"I've actually had my proposal planned out for a while now," Fox admitted. "I was gonna take you to this fancy bar called "Daneel's" on the tallest Cornerian skyscraper, hire a musician, ask you to dance with me. Guess that won't work now."

"Aw, Fox, that's adorable," Wolf whispered. His tail moved slightly under the blanket. "We should still do that one day."

Fox blushed. "Heh, okay. One day."

There was a knock at the door, and Leon came in wearing a thin smile.

"So, I guess this is what it felt like for you to see me, huh?" Leon quipped.

Wolf smiled and nodded back. "What is it, Leon?"

"It's over. With the chaos that you two caused, it was easy for Panther and the rest of my crew to clean up the mess."

"There were still a couple of dreadnoughts left. What about those?" Fox asked.

"Well...we still had some antimatter left over. Everything else fled back to Corneria."

Fox grimaced. Antimatter bombs had been banned by interplanetary treaty for at least a century.

"So you're saying we destroyed about half of Corneria's entire Space Force?"

Leon scratched the back of his neck. "Well, about a fourth of Corneria's fleet is loyal to Bill now. One third or so fled back to Corneria, so yes, we destroyed just under a half.

Fox felt nauseuous. "This means...Papetoon might be able to compete with Corneria now. At least for a little while."

"We've pretty much ended Cornerian dominance of the Lylat Cluster," Wolf concluded.

"Not for long," Fox countered automatically, but he wasn't sure how he felt about it. "They'll build more. Papetoon won't be able to keep up."

"So what do we do?" Leon whipped his tail and gave Fox a look of genuine curiosity for the first time.

"I don't know," Fox curled up in his chair and hugged his legs. "By every Star, I'm a fighter, not a diplomat! How _should_ _I_ know?"

"Fox, we have to decide on something," Wolf put a shaking arm on his companion's knee. "We can't go back to Corneria anymore."

Fox rubbed his eyes. "You're right. Let's call Bill and work something out."


	18. Summer & Spring

"So, I finally got back in touch with the Viceroy of Papetoon," Bill flipped his ears up from over his drooping eyes. "Well, actually, she's calling herself the President now. They've decided to declare independence from Corneria, and offered us positions in a new Papetoon Space Force. They also suggested that you and Wolf become our first two generals."

Fox and Wolf looked at each other in shock, then back at the bulldog on the screen. Wolf was still in his bed, but he had been wheeled out to participate. They had been able to remove the metal in his leg the night before, and his skin had started to heal.

In the other ship, Bill and Panther were at the front of their table, while the rest of Leon's crew craned their necks to see from behind.

"I think we should do this," Slippy twirled a pen through his flexible fingers. "We'll be forming a new planetary government!"

"Only to be crushed by Corneria later?" Fox scribbled idly on a piece of paper.

"Not necessarily!" Slippy countered. "We haven't heard anything from Corneria yet. They may not want to fight back."

"And at this point," Leon added, "trying to retake all of Papetoon would be nearly impossible."

"It can't just be us, though," Fox insisted. "We need to get help from the other planets."

"As it happens, we've sent pleas out to Katina and Eladard," Bill replied.

"I suggested we contact Venom, too," Panther added, "but we decided to wait for your agreement."

Fox looked over at Leon and Slippy. Wolf coughed politely.

"I mean I guess we should..." Fox admitted. "Who's the Premier now? Dash Bowman, right?"

"Yes, that's right," Panther nodded.

"Is Andrew still the Assembly Chairman?" Wolf asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Panther replied. Wolf grimaced.

"Ugh, I guess we should..." Fox looked over to Wolf, who nodded solemnly. Everyone else gave a quick, perfunctory nod, and seemed to agree wordlessly to move to a new topic.

Fox placed his pen on his pad and folded his arms over his head. "Alright, well, now that that's settled, how is Papetoon doing? What is the Viceroy-I mean President-up to? What's their name again?"

Bill chuckled. "It's Joruga Okifu. According to her, some farms around the city of Whelan were damaged by falling spaceship fragments, but repairs are under way. The damage to Itoh was minimal. There are some demonstrations regarding the announcement of independence, but those have been peaceful so far."

"That's not terrible," Wolf waved a hand. "I had no idea they were so serious about independence."

"It's been kind of a thing for a long time now," Bill fiddled around under the table and pulled out a fluffy black object which he realized was the tip of Panther's tail. Panther stuck out his tongue and pulled it back, leaving Bill to hang his head.

"Anyway!" Panther began, and rolled a fancy pen over to Bill, who picked up his head again and smiled.

"Anyway, Viceroy O'kiifu wants to meet us in Itoh," Panther smoothed out the tip of his tail and threw it behind himself. "She's arranged for us to stay indefinitely, until a Space Force can be worked out."

Fox banged a fist against the table, making it vibrate with a deep thrum.

"I don't like this," he stood up and paced around his chair. "I don't like that I have to treat Corneria as the enemy now. I don't want to fight another war."

"None of us want that either, Fox," Wolf's voice was still weak, but it still carried sharply over the sudden silence of the two ships.

Bill opened and closed his pen nervously. "Okifu has already sent over a proposed peace treaty and trade agreement to Corneria. There's nothing we can do except wait for their response."

Falco grabbed Fox by the arm and had him sit back down again.

"Alright then," Fox tried to puff out his chest a bit. "So, in total, how many Cornerian soldiers are with us now?"

Bill puffed out his chest. "We currently have a total of 2,168 loyal troops operating one dreadnought, three carriers, five cruisers, and 374 fighters."

Fox scratched his head. During the War, he would have sneezed at those numbers. Corneria's Space Force had numbered about two million ships at that time. Two thousand troops was barely a statistic. It was a split-second news flash you saw on your feed while waking up over breakfast. Now, those numbers boggled his mind. How was he supposed to help take care of over two thousand people!?

"Wow. Okay. So, I guess we need more than a hotel room, right?"

Panther covered his mouth. Bill looked, for a moment, genuinely disappointed in his friend.

 _This is why I'm not a soldier,_ Fox reflected as his heart twisted in on itself from Bill's glare. _Too many big numbers._

"That's right, Fox. The President is supposed to be preparing a tent city for us on the outskirts of Itoh Spaceport."

"Right. That makes sense."

Bill made a satisfied grunt. "Wolf, since you're injured they've set off a room on-"

"Thank you, but no." Wolf's eyes darted between Bill and Fox. He decided at this point to swear off his eyepatch; he didn't care how creepy his artificial eye made him look. "I'll stay with everyone else."

"Very well, then," Bill dipped his head.

Fox coughed. "I guess we should go down to Itoh. Bill, Panther, thank you both for working this out."  
"Just doing our job," Bill stood up and saluted, while Panther made a deep bow like an actor.

Fox grinned madly as they touched down on the fields outside of Itoh Spaceport.

 _I'm going home,_ Fox's mind jittered. _I'm finally back where I grew up!_ He was sad that Wolf had to be in the med bay for the descent, since he would have loved to share the view.

To Fox's amazement, the tent city appeared to be mostly set up already. Rows and row of identical umber-colored tents spread out among the flattened, dark green grass. Every so often, a larger tent poked up above, with a thin tower of smoke that indicated a warm kitchen.

A tall, lanky crow flanked by heavily armored lion guards stood between the two ships.

"Greetings!" she cawed. "I'm President Okifu. I'm sorry that we could not have better accommodations for you all right now."

 _Huh, she looks familiar_ , Fox mused, eyes fixed with sudden realization. _Did Dad ever have her over?_

"It's an honor, President," Bill took over while Fox was lost thinking. He bowed and shook Okifu's hand. "I think these accommodations will be adequate for the time being."

"And Fox, how you've grown!" She bowed, startling Fox.

 _Wow_ _, it must have been her!_ Fox blinked. "Ah, maybe. It's a pleasure to meet you now."

"The pleasure is mine," Okifu replied. "Your father...well, I don't have to tell you."

"Right," Fox smiled and shook Okifu's hand firmly. She smiled slightly, and turned to Fox's companions.

"Wolf, Leon, it is a distinctive pleasure to finally meet you two as well." Okifu's black eyes glittered strangely in the soft golden light of the Papetoon afternoon.

Wolf saluted weakly from his bed, while Leon attempted a very formal bow.

"I'm grateful you've accepted us," Wolf replied.

The President clicked her beak. "It's not a question of acceptance. We welcome you. It's time for a fresh start."

Leon gulped. "We appreciate that," he replied, nodding quickly.

"Well, I'm sure you all need time to rest," Okifu suggested. "I have representatives stationed at the kitchen tents to ensure that you have enough food and other supplies, but you can also contact me directly if there is a problem, and whenever you're ready to talk."

"Yes, President!" Fox saluted. He glanced nervously at Bill, then Leon. Bill winked reassuringly.

"Very good," the crow bowed again, and retreated with her guards. "Rest well, then."

Once he judged that Okifu was out of sight, Fox enveloped Bill in a tight, desperate hug.

"Stars, Bill, I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I've disappointed you. I'm sorry for dragging you into all this. I can't thank you enough for dealing with it all."

Bill set his hands on Fox's shoulders and pushed him so that they were arm's length apart.

"Dude, there's nothing to apologize about! You've been doing fantastic! If you hadn't come back with Leon and Panther and their crew, we'd be toast! I could never be disappointed in you!"

He sighed and returned Fox's close embrace. "Dude, Fox, this is too much for one person to handle. But we've got each other, so it'll be fine."

"You think we can take care of everyone here?" Fox whimpered.

Bill chuckled. "Fox, they're soldiers. They'll be fine. If not, that's on _me_ , not _you_."

Fox smiled. "Yeah, you're right." The two paused to look out over the expanse of tents, and saw to their satisfaction that the soldiers had already taken matters into their own hands. Some had formed chains to distribute food, while others were taking of the injured.

"Looks like a recruitment video, doesn't it?" Falco remarked. "Bill is right though. We should take a break, too."

Fox looked around at his companions, seeing suddenly that they all looked exhausted and disheveled. Even Falco's normally impeccable feathers were starting to stick out at odd angles. Leon's skin looked like it was peeling, and Fox saw that his own fur was matted and stained.

"I can't believe it was only a few weeks ago that Faisa first spoke with us," he whispered, and was answered with a chorus of awkward guffaws and chuckles.

"We'd better get a tent," Wolf mused, watching the soldiers as they seemed to divide up and filter into the tents.

"Right," Fox stretched his arms. "Slippy, Falco, would you get us some food? I'll set up the bedding and stuff."

"Roger that" Falco and Slippy saluted and jogged off to the nearest smokestack.

Fox began wheeling Wolf into the nearby tent, seeing to his relief that it was still empty. Leon returned almost silently to his crew, while Bill went off back to his own squadrons with-wait, is that Panther with him?

Fox decided not to question it for the moment, and diverted his attention to Wolf's wounds. Fortunately it was primarily the muscle that had been damaged, and the bones would be able to heal without too much intervention.

"You know, we can still get you a room in the hospital. There's no shame in that," Fox said with as much force as he could while setting up a mattress for them.

Wolf sighed. "I know, but it would be inconvenient for everybody. And I want to be out here, anyway."

Fox laughed. "Why, nostalgia? Some kind of fantasy about being a soldier? I could go between here and the hospital just fine."

Wolf gave an exaggerated cough. "Fine, maybe it is some sliver of pride. Can you let me have that?" he said, while picking absently at a scab on his arm.

"Sure, if you take care of yourself!" Fox lightly slapped Wolf's hand away from the scab.

Wolf lay back down. "Ah, okay."

The two fell into a comfortable silence as Fox undid Wolf's old bandages, and began to gently rub his leg with an alcohol swab.

"Wolf," Fox began haltingly.

Wolf touched Fox's hand. "What is it?"

"I just wonder...are we the bad guys now? What about before? Was I the bad guy from the start?"

Wolf pulled on Fox's arm so that he could look him in his deep green eyes, wide like fields of grass.

"I don't know what you mean. What's good and bad got to do with it?"

Fox pulled away and diverted his eyes back to Wolf's wound, which had gotten better, but was still gaping and unpleasant to look at. _Stars, I hate being so squeamish._

"But Wolf, I always thought-I mean, I know Corneria has its problems, but I felt like during the War, I really was fighting for freedom. For a better society. But now I'm fighting against them! What if Andross was right all along, and-"

Wolf put Fox's own finger up to his mouth, causing him to stop talking mid-sentence. "Fox, I don't know. I can't help you with this moral stuff. I just know I want to be with you."

"You must have thought about it too," Fox protested. "I bet you imagined you were fighting against General Pepper's tyranny."

Wolf sighed, and let go of Fox's hand. "Kinda. I just...don't think it's really worth fighting for something vague like 'justice' or 'freedom' or whatever. I know there's good people and bad people, and I try to help the good people when I can."

"So you do think I'm a good person?" Fox continued to wipe away the dry blood around the wound.

"Of course!" Wolf whispered. "Your father was a good person. I still think Andross tried to do good for Venom, even if it didn't exactly work. And there's some good things about Corneria too."

"But all the people we killed..."

Wolf took a deep breath. Fox watched intently as his chest rose and fell. Fox sniffled a bit.

"The way I see it, Fox, we killed so that _even more people_ wouldn't die. We don't know how it would have been without us." Wolf looked as if he, too, were holding back a few tears now. "I don't have all the answers for you. I'm sorry."

Fox smiled and drew a circle in the fur on Wolf's broad pectoral. "It's okay. I just don't like this feeling. Floating free, without morals or guidance."

Wolf gulped. "I wish I could help you more, Fox. I just never thought about it much before. Maybe I just put it out of my mind too much before."

Fox nibbled on his nail. "Maybe. But it's scary, isn't it? Not knowing what to do that will actually help anything."

"Well, you're helping me," Wolf whispered. "And your team, and Leon's, and Bill and his soldiers. I'd say you're doing pretty good."

"We," Fox. "We're doing pretty good. I just hope we can do better."

"I know we will. All of us," Wolf picked his head momentarily to look at his own wound, and then just as quickly set his head back down again.

"Aw, don't look!" Fox insisted. "It won't help you."

Wolf laughed. "I want to help you out."

Fox smiled. "Okay, hold the gauze here and I'll wrap it around."

Wolf pressed the end of the gauze to his leg, while Fox wrapped it in precise layers.

"Okay, done!" Fox snipped off the last piece, and tied it up neatly. "Let's get you into a real bed."

Fox grunted as he lifted Wolf from his rolling bed, and onto the mattress.

"You could ask Leon for help. I can wait."

"No! You deserve a more comfortable bed as soon as possible."

"Heh, fine."

"Okay, then. Onto the mattress you go."

Fox heaved mightily to lift Wolf from his rolling bed onto the mattress, and he felt himself sway dangerously, but Wolf made no complaint.

Just then, there was a rustling at the door. "Food's here!" Slippy announced, waving around bags of military rations. "Bean Soup," the packages declared in bold black letters. Falco came in a few seconds later, with a sly grin and a small paper bag.

Fox looked at him with a curious eye.

"They're for later," is all Falco said.

"Alright, let's eat!" Slippy continued, producing four bowls and bottles of water. He pressed the bags so that they would heat up automatically, then poured them carefully into the bowls.

Fox's mouth watered. He never imagined he'd be so happy to be eating rations.

The four ate quickly in a sort of relieved silence, their tent illuminated by strange shades of pink and purple as Lylat began to set.

"So, what sort of wedding do you want to have?"

Fox nearly spat out his soup. "Slippy, what sort of a question is that?"

"Well, it's a good time, isn't it?"

Wolf practically folded himself over in laughter. "He's not wrong, you know."

Fox sighed. "I was just hoping for something short and simple, maybe by the canal. But what about you, Wolf?"

Wolf coughed and unfolded himself. "I just want it to be something we'll remember forever. But I know that with you, that'll be easy."


	19. Where the Stars Belong

"That was some really nice flying, Panther," Bill stammered, hands in his pockets, as he walked by Panther.

Panther shook his head in the negative, but he couldn't resist smiling. "Hah, I know it's nothing compared to what you've seen Fox and Wolf do. But thanks."

"Fox is a great pilot, of course. But sometimes he doesn't have the style, you know?"

"And you do, in your giant clunky battleships?" Panther winked, and twirled his tail.

"Hey, that's not a fair comparison!" Bill's ears fell. "Besides, that's why we have these snazzy uniforms," Bill snapped the collar on his drab gray vest, which was at least adorned with a variety of medals and commendations.

Panther chuckled. "I have to admit, you wear it well. Though in my opinion, Zoness has the best uniforms."

"Hah!" Bill's ears perked up. "I think they're a little traditional, but I like their carnations. I see that you like your flowers too, don't you?"

Panther knelt down and picked a tiny flower up from the grass. It was small, round, and purple, though he wasn't sure he could identify it. "I do."

"Yeah, Papetoon doesn't have great flowers," Bill remarked. "That kinda plant is called fuzzball, no joke. They've managed to exterminate pretty much every single weed on the planet, except that one."

"In that case, I like it more," Panther replied. He plucked a few larger speciments and stuffed them in his shirt pocket. "Katina's got some nice flowers. The best roses, for sure. They're the perfect shade of crimson."

Bill picked up a fuzzball as he walked. He hadn't looked at one carefully for a long time. The flower itself was an orb made of numerous thin, rather stiff petals. Bits of bright yellow pollen stuck to the petals in small clumps.

"Where are you from, Panther?" Bill asked.

"Oh, I grew up on Venom," Panther replied. "My mother is a governor there. Kraidek Province, if you're familiar."

Bill shook his head.

"Never mind, then," Panther continued. "My father works for Tungsten Corporation; he helped construct the first Wolfens."

"Oh, really!?" Bill's eyes grew wide. "That's incredible."

"It gave me a lot of advantages," Panther admitted. "Though it's a bit odd. My parents are from what were once competing noble families."

"So what happened?"

"Hah!" Panther clutched his chest. "The Autumn Revolution happened, of course. My family may have lost their titles, but not their wealth."

"Funny how that works," Bill replied, biting his lip. "So, what about you specifically?"

"Hm, well I used to help my Dad smuggle materials for his special projects. After the Academy, I decided to become a privateer myself. Not necessarily something my parents approved of. How about you?"

Bill shrugged. "My parents own a restaurant on Corneria. They hoped I'd take over for them. But I was set on joining the Space Force. My sister runs the restaurant instead now."

Panther coughed. "Oh. I see."

Bill chuckled. "What, is my story too lowly for you?"

"No, not at all!" Panther nearly tripped as they walked. "In some ways, ours are similar."

"I suppose so," Bill bobbed his head.

"What do they think about it now?"

"They're happy with what I've become, I think." Bill flipped his ears back over his head.

"Good, good," Panther replied. "It's...been a while since I've talked with mine, actually."

"Well, it's never too late," Bill stopped walking and took a moment to stretch. "If that's what you want to do, I mean."

"Right," Panther stopped and bounced on his feet.

Bill craned his head over to see his tent, which was now in view. "Wait a minute..."

"What is it?" Panther asked.

"By the Stars, those are kids!" Bill yelled, then broke into a sprint without explanation.

Panther followed close behind without a word.

After a few seconds, Panther saw what Bill yelled about. Three teenagers were loitering next to a crate of rifles next to the tent, tapping at it and making poses.

"They'd better not touch anything!" Bill continued yelling to nobody as he ran.

Panther found himself tiring quickly, but he had to keep pace with Bill.

Finally, the teenagers took note of the two figures running towards them, and seemed to freeze in shock.

"You idiots!" Bill panted as he reached the tent. "Do you know, _pant,_ how dangerous, _pant,_ it is to play with guns, _pant_ , that aren't yours?"

"Hey, we're sorry!" The apparent leader of the group, a stocky shepherd dressed in black athletic clothing and a golden plastic mask, held up his hands. "We were just curious. We'd never actually mess with something like that."

Bill scowled, and inspected the crate. To his surprise, it appeared undisturbed.

"Why did you come here?" Bill asked. A few seconds later, Panther ran up next to Bill, holding his legs and panting a bit harder than his canine companion.

"Why wouldn't we!?" another teenager, a tall maned wolf, declared, adjusting his own golden mask.

Bill sighed. _Why was this world so strange?_ He'd never understood how Fox had turned out so normal. "You're the reason we're independent now!"

Bill couldn't help but smile. "Yes, that's true. Let's hope it stays that way." All of them nodded.

"It's funny," the third teenager, an orange cat, mused. "We used to fantasize about being the ones to do it. To train really hard, become the best fighters in the Cluster, and scare the Cornerians away!"

"Guess we don't have to worry now," the shepherd remarked.

"I'm not sure about that yet," Bill admitted.

"So, did you see it all from down here?" Panther asked, recovering his breath.

"Yeah!" the maned wolf replied. "You couldn't really see the ships, though. Just the laser fire. And when something exploded."

"Which was pretty often," the cat added. "I got a video on my phone." He opened it and turned the screen to Bill and Panther, so that they could watch their own work from the perspective of the surface.

"Oh wow," Bill scratched his chin. "Well, you can see when I pulled you off, Panther."

"That's true!" Panther agreed, noting how the debris cloud surrounding the battlefield changed shape at that time. "And there's when Fox blew up that cruiser."

Bill hummed in agreement.

"We're sorry we worried you," the shepherd continued. "We just had to see for ourselves! I hope you can forgive us."

"Of course!" Bill threw out his arms magnanimously. "Do you have to get home soon? I could put on a little show if you wanted."

The three teenagers looked at each other in awe. "Are you sure? We'd be honored!"

Bill clapped his hands together. "Excellent. I'll teach you everything I know about these rifles."

"Wait," the maned wolf held up a hand. "There's something I want to know first. It might just be a rumor, but..."

"What's that?" the bulldog leaned against the crate.

"Well, um," the maned wolf stammered. "We heard that, uh, Fox McCloud and Wolf O'Donnell are both here with you guys."

"And that they're...together now?" the shepherd added. "But we know that doesn't make sense. Just a rumor, after all."

Bill let his jaw drop, while Panther snickered. "Well, they _are_ with us..."

"But what they're doing is their business, don't you think?" Panther added. "It's rude to pry too much."

"You're right!" the shepherd waved his hands placatingly. "I don't want to be rude, I was just curious. And I don't think it's wrong. To, uh, like other guys, I mean. We're really not Cornerians or something."

The other two teenagers nodded enthusiastically. "Right, right! I mean, they're the best space fighters ever! We don't care if they..."  
Bill stifled a laugh. "Let me put it this way: If there's something going on, they'll let everyone know in time."

The shepherd looked at his friends in confusion. "Well, okay. It sounds like you know them or something."

"Do you wanna see me play with these guns or not?" Bill asked.

"Yes!" the three teenagers replied in unison.

"Okay, then stop asking questions," Bill pulled out a rifle from the crate, and a box of ammunition.

"Panther, would you be my assistant?" the bulldog asked.

"Why, certainly," the feline bowed to the three teenagers, then took the box.

"Alright, so the first rule is to always treat any gun like it's loaded. NEVER point it at another person, or yourself! It's best to take off the magazine whenever you're not actually using it. Now to load the gun, all you have to do is pop the bullets in like this, and then snap in the magazine like this."

Bill loaded the gun slowly and carefully, and the three teenagers craned their necks to see.

"Okay, so the trigger is here, and the safety is here. You can turn the safety on and off just by flicking your thumb, like this. You should always leave the safety on until you need to use the gun."

"Now, these are just practice rounds. They disintegrate after about 10 meters, and won't cause you greivous harm even within that range. They'd still hurt like hell, though."

"Don't you have laser guns?" the cat asked.

Panther smiled.

"No," Bill replied, still in his serious tone, "You just got that idea from watching too many movies. Laser weapons don't really work at smaller scales. They're only efficient for large ships."

"Darn," the cat snapped his fingers in disappointment, and the shepherd patted his shoulder for reassurance.

"Don't worry, I think you'll still be impressed by this." Bill slung the rifle over his shoulder for a minute, and bent down to inspect the ground. After a moment, he picked up a rock and threw it with full force into the air. It sailed in a gentle arc on the light Papetoon gravity. At the same time, he threw the rifle up above him, making it twirl rapidly. He put out his arms, and the rifle fell perfectly into position, firing almost as soon as it touched his hands. The rock disintegrated into dust right as it began to fall back down.

"Whoah!" the teenagers exclaimed together. The cat even took off his mask for a moment.  
Bill smiled from ear to floppy ear. "I knew you'd like it."

"Say, I don't think we introduced ourselves properly!" Panther noted, blushing. "My name is Panther Caroso. This is my friend, Bill Grey. And who are you?"

"I'm Mishel!" the shepherd replied.

"Yoshida," the maned wolf tipped up his mask.

"Gavin!" the cat waved his hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you three," Panther bowed. Bill put down his rifle and followed with a bow a moment later.

"The pleasure is all ours," Mishel insisted.

"Sorry if this is rude," Bill twiddled his fingers, "but what's up with the masks, again?"

"Oh!" Yoshida exclaimed, suddenly looking excited. "It's from colonial times. When they were terraforming Papetoon, there was a time when the atmosphere had enough pressure, but not the right composition. People started painting their oxygen masks as a fashion statement, and it just kinda kept going."

"But why does everyone wear the same gold mask now?"

Yoshida shrugged. "I dunno, we don't think about it much now."

Bill nodded, still uncomprehending. "Well, okay. Wanna see some more tricks?"

"Hold on a minute!" Panther grabbed Bill's wrist lightly. "Do you expect me to let you hog the entire show?"

Bill smiled and waved his hands. "Just waiting for you to step in, that's all."

Panther chuckled. "Then wait no longer! If you're ready, that is."

Bill folded his arms. "I think so."

"Excellent," Panther pulled out two unloaded pistols from the crate, and began juggling them.

Bill wrinkled his snout. "Whoah, where'd you learn that!?"

Panther shrugged. "Hometown circus. Would you help me load them?"

"Fine," Bill laughed, and filled two magazines with practice rounds. He tossed them over to Panther.

Without missing a beat, Panther grabbed the two magazines and added them to his juggling. With a couple of clicks, the guns were loaded, and he was back to juggling only two things instead of four.

"Alright, they're comin' at ya'." Bill warned, and thew a stone into the air.

 _Bang!_ and it was gone.

"Yikes!" Panther stopped juggling the pistols, and inspected his wrist.

"Ah, the recoil is a bit different than Venomian pistols, isn't it?" Bill asked.

"Yeah," Panther agreed. "I guess I'll need your help emptying these." Panther put one of the pistols back on the crate, and Bill picked it back up again.

"Hey, why don't y'all give us some targets?" Bill suggested, winking at Mishel.

Mishel beamed. "Sure!"

The three teenagers lined up and began throwing rocks for Bill and Panther to shoot.

"Come on guys, can't you just call it even?" Yoshida pleaded to Bill and Panther. "You two have been going at this for an hour. I can tell you're even running out of banter!"

The bulldog and feline looked at each other. "The kid's right," Panther admitted. "We can shoot forever, but banter is something special."

"I couldn't agree more," Bill replied. "Well, it has been a pleasure to meet you three."

"Oh, it's been fun for us too," Gavin insisted. "We should get home anyway."

Mishel and Yoshida nodded.

"Do you plan on coming back?" Bill asked.

"Uh, I dunno," Mishel shrugged. "Next time we'd ask to come first."

Bill nodded. "I think there might be an occasion we'd invite you back for, in any case."

"We'll let you know," Panther added.

"Oh, cool!" Mishel replied. "Uh, here's my phone number." He clicked his phone against Bill's, then Panther's.

"Great," Bill nodded. "Do you need help getting home? I'm sure we have a truck somewhere."

"Nah, don't worry," Yoshida replied. "We'll just follow the rail back."

"Well, okay," Bill shook the teenagers' hands. "I hope you enjoyed the show. Have a good night!"

"Thanks!" the three exclaimed. "Have a good night as well."

And with that, the three teenagers ran off, their long, lanky legs allowing them to disappear quickly into the soft twilight.

Bill shuffled his feet. "So, are you going to go back to Leon's crew now?"

Panther cleared his throat. "Well, I'm not even sure what he's thinking right now. If he wants me to stay, then yes. Otherwise, I'm sure I can find my own way again."

"Right."

"I mean, I kind of fell into Leon's group by accident," Panther explained. "It's lucky that we got along, and were able to recruit as many people as we did."

"Yeah," Bill took out a small fire kit and sat down in front of the tent. He waved for Panther to sit down next to him.

"What about you, Bill?" Panther asked, sitting down after Bill had lit the fire. "You have a lot of stuff to worry about now."

"I know," Bill stuck out his hands to warm them by the fire. "I think I'll stay here though. Form a Papetoon Space Force. It's the only thing I'd know how to do. And Corneria will never want me back now."

Panther whistled. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's nobody's fault. Just how the cards fell."

"You're doing the right thing," Panther assured Bill, putting a hand on his shoulder. Bill grabbed Panther's hand lightly.

"You know, Panther," Bill "I'd be happy if you, Leon, and his crew stayed with us. Everything will be reorganized anyway, so hopefully nobody will worry about being stuck with a rank or something."

"What about Fox and Wolf?" Panther asked. "Didn't Okifu offer them positions as generals?"

"I doubt they'll take it," Bill brushed the fur on his arm. "Fox at least wouldn't want to be tied down like that."

"I see." Panther cleaned off his shirt. "I wasn't sure exactly what Okifu had in mind, myself."

"I know; she was vague. I know you and Leon have your own thing going, but I'd be happy to work with your people if I can."

"I'll be sure to let him know," Panther replied. "Okay, one more question."

"What's that?"

"You were born on Corneria, right?"

"Yes, I thought I just-oh," Bill's eyes twinkled when he realized what Panther was really asking about. "Yeah, the genetic treatment didn't work for me either, just like Fox."

"I see." Panther looked up at the sky. "Did you and Fox ever..."

"Briefly, but we never quite clicked. No regrets about it, though." Bill sighed.

"Right."

"What about you, Panther? You can't just ask something like that and not share too," Bill insisted.

"Fair enough," Panther curled up on himself. "I'm gay too, but I've never been in a relationship. Never had the time. I thought about marrying a woman since my parents want me to continue the family line, but I couldn't do it."

"Ah, I'm sorry about that," Bill wrapped an arm around Panther's shoulder. "I appreciate your trust in me."

"I don't really like talking about this stuff," Panther admitted. "It's more fun to be the dramatic, theatrical guy. Then you just have to act."

"Heh, I agree," Bill noticed that despite the fire, his breath was becoming visible as the night cooled. "Sometimes I feel that way too."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one," Panther yawned.

"Me too," Bill stood up and offered a hand to Panther. "We should get to bed."

"Yes," Panther grabbed Bill's hand, and Bill helped pull him up. "I'll talk about it with Leon tomorrow."

"Sounds good," Bill put out the fire. "It was nice talking with you today."

"Likewise. Rest well."

"You too."

Panther began to walk slowly over to a circle of tents, just barely visible now, which Bill assumed housed Leon and his crew. Bill went into his tent and fell onto the bed. His stomach was fluttering in a way that he hadn't felt for a long time. He suddenly realized how exhausted he was, and drifted to sleep on visions of roses and carnations.

When Panther got to his circle of tents, he saw that everybody else was, as expcted, fast asleep. He tiptoed into Leon's tent and found an unoccupied mattress. It took a while for him to fall asleep, as he was giddy on the realization that he-all of them-might not have to constantly be on the run anymore.


	20. Earthspeaker

"After taking my fill of the vast temperate forests and improbably tall cities of Corneria, I decided to explore Papetoon. Specifically, I plotted a route along the Bradberry Canal. Named for a pre-Space Age Cornerian poet, Bradberry Canal is the longest canal on Papetoon, and in the entire Lylat Cluster. It spans 4,862 kilometers from its start in the Northern Ocean (which is really no more than an oversized lake), to the Maitres Basin in the south. It connects the major cities of Whelan, Ylla, and Itoh, as well as numerous smaller towns and farms.

Bradberry Canal was constructed over a period of 5 years, starting just 13 years after the first colonists landed in 1068 L.C. Thousands of workers were hired from all over Corneria to work on the monumental task, and even today, parts of the canal are lined with tombstones for those who died while working on the project.

Typically, large cruise ships traverse the canals several times per year (which is about half again as long as the Cornerian year). However, they only stop at the three major cities, plus several short stops to refuel. I intended for my own journey to be more leisurely.

To this end, I decided to rent a sailboat for myself.

I had originally planned to stay for five days in Whelan City. However, after only three, I decided that it is simply too cold! The architecture is in fact stunning, consisting of massive, intricately carved pagodas and precarious toranas, but the constant, biting wind is simply too much for me.

Fortunately, I found it easy to procure a sailboat. Sailing is a hobby that many urban Papetoonites enjoy, though few go for long distances. After a bit of haggling with the owner, an elderly retriever named Carrey, he allowed me to rent a 50 foot Sidon sailboat on the condition that I return it to his friend, Levas, in Itoh City.

I admit that I have limited sailing experience, though Carrey assured me that Sidon boats have an excellented automated sailing feature, which will properly angle and trim the sails for me. All I would have to do is steer.

Satisified with my purchase, I decided to start sailing right away! The boat, it turns out, comes with one bed (frankly more comfortable than the one in the hotel), a bathroom, a fridge, and a stovetop.

Fortunately, due to the intensive weather control, the winds on Papetoon are quite stable and predictable. The skies are always a beautiful deep blue, decorated by whispy white clouds.

There is only one thing that makes me feel strange. Because water is such a precious resource on this planet, storms and rain are essentially nonexistent. All free water is stored in the canals, and fed into sprinklers to be devoted to agriculture. According to the locals, it only rains one or two times per year, and even then only because the weather control satellites are not quite perfect.

Apparently, rain days are taken very seriously by the people of Papetoon. At even the slightest hint of precipitation..."

-Excerpt from "Lylat Travels" by Ibn Parrota, son of Abdul Makaw of Zoness.

"Oh, you're here!" Leon declared when he woke up.

Panther awoke with a start, and pulled the thin cover over his head.

"Good morning, Leon," Panther replied from under the cover.

"Where were you?" Leon stood up from his mattress and immediately set about to making breakfast. "I was getting worried."

"Sorry, I was talking with Bill," Panther replied, jumping out of his mattress and handing a few tools and implements to Leon just as he reached for them. "He seems interested in working with us."

"Ah, good," Leon nodded, curling and un-curling his tail. "I wasn't sure about him. Everybody will have to make their own choice, of course."

"Right," Panther took a bowl of rice porridge from Leon and blew on it slowly. "What do you want to do, Leon?"

Leon stepped out of the tent with his own bowl, and Panther followed behind.

"Hm, I don't know. Venom is really all I know. Though strictly speaking, I was a deserter. They may not take me back."

"You can't continue to blame yourself for that," Panther suggested. "I think even Wolf has forgiven you."

"He has been kind to me," Leon admitted, "But I think we have different paths now. I am curious to see what he and Fox do, to be sure."

"Me too," Panther laughed.

"So what is Bill thinking about doing?" Leon asked, blowing softly on his bowl.

"He wants to stay here and build a real Space Force for Papetoon," Panther answered, trying to restrain his personal excitement.

"Hm, I see," Leon nodded.

"Does that not interest you?" Panther folded his arms. Though he considered Leon a good friend, perhaps his closest, he still worried sometimes that he didn't entirely understand his reptile companion.

"Oh, it's an attractive offer," Leon admitted. "But I don't know if this planet is for me."

"I see," Panther nodded.

"Are you thinking about something else?" Leon asked through his porridge. He seemed genuinely surprised by Panther, which was unusual.

"Ah, well," Panther scratched his ears. "I...like Bill, and if he stays to make a Space Force, I'd want to stay with him."

"So?" Leon cleaned off his lips. "That's good! I'm glad you've found someone."

"Eh, hopefully," Panther chuckled. "But, if you go somewhere else-well, I'd miss you. You took me in when I had nowhere else to go. Heck, I'd miss everyone."

"Ah, yes, running from your father," Leon recalled. "It was fun making you disappear from Venom's shipment records."

"Heh, I'm sure it was." Panther shook his head.

"The thing is, we were all forced together by circumstance," Leon gestured around at the other tents, some of which were now opening and spilling out still-groggy crew members.

"But I don't want to force anyone now," he continued. "We have more freedom than ever, and I want everyone to be able to use it."

"You're right," Panther nodded. "I guess I'm being nostalgic."

"Strange to be nostalgic for a time when we had to dig for scraps," Leon replied.

Panther shrugged. "We can't all be perfect logical robots like you, Leon."

"Oh, how I wish I really could be," Leon laughed, a deep, flanged chortle.

Suddenly, Whiskard came running up to the two holding a ball.

"What's that?" Leon asked, narrowing his eyes.

"It's a soccer ball!" Whiskard declared proudly. "I was thinking we could play."

"I'm...I was never any good at sports," Leon curled up his tail.

Panther peered over at Leon. Was he _embarrassed?_

"Pff, who cares!" Whiskard replied. "We were never able to do something like this on Miyamoto. We should take advantage of it now! I'll round everyone up."

With that, Whiskard ran around to the other tents, leaving the ball with Panther and Leon.

"Wait, how are we choosing teams?" Leon called out as Whiskard ran away.

"I dunno, you and Panther decide!" he called back over the sound of his footfall.

Panther smiled and looked at Leon. Leon grimaced back.

"What's wrong?" the feline asked.

"I don't know how to play soccer!" Leon hopped on his feet.

Panther put an arm on Leon's back "Hey, don't worry! Nobody follows the rules anyway. You just have to run around and kick the ball."

"Are you sure?" Leon kicked the tall grass. "I know it's just a game, but I still feel like I'd let everyone down."

Panther shook his head. "Gee, don't be so hard on yourself. I think they just care if you play."

A moment later, Whiskard returned with the rest of their crew in tow, along with Fox, Wolf, and Bill. Wolf was wearing an exoskeleton that supported his legs and back, though Fox nevertheless had an arm around Wolf as if he were a delicate orchid.

Leon laughed. "Are you all here to play too?"

"No, I'm just here to watch," Fox replied, "Bill might, though."

Wolf shook his head. "Aw, come on Fox. I know that I can't play, but you should enjoy yourself!"

Fox shuffled his feet. "Well, okay." His tail swished quickly.

"We'd be happy to have you," Leon admitted.

"Great! I love soccer," Fox exclaimed.

"Thank goodness," Leon sighed.

"Where's Slippy and Falco?" Panther asked.

"Apparently they have top-secret business," Fox shrugged. "Even I'm not allowed to know."

"Heh. Alright, so how about you and I pick teams, Fox?" Panther popped up the ball from the ground with his toes. He bounced it several times on his knee before kicking it over to Fox, who caught it perfectly in his hands. "Shirts versus furs-or scales, I guess."

Leon shook his head, but Panther could see that he was also repressing a grin.

"Sounds good to me." Fox tossed the ball over to the crowd. "Sika, come on over."

The deer ran over to Fox and tossed the ball back to Panther.

"Alright, Yume," the feline kicked the ball over, and Yume returned it.

Before long, the teams were assembled.

Wolf, who had gotten a chair off to the side, cheered when Fox took his shirt off. The rest of Fox's team followed suit.

"Hey, we haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet!" Fox teased, flexing playfully. Wolf whistled anyway.

Panther, Leon, and their team assembled on one side of the rough field formed by their tents. A large crowd of Bill's soldiers had joined Wolf to watch the game. Fox, Bill, and their team assembled on the other side. Wolf stood up and peered between the lines of soccer players. "Well, I guess I can referree." He picked up the ball, and threw it to the middle of the field.

"Let the game begin!"

Wolf's declaration was nearly drowned out by the chanting of Bill's soldiers, who started to cheer him on as soon as the ball touched the ground. "Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!"

Bill pretended politely to be embarrassed, but Fox could see how much he was enjoying the attention.

Fox took control of the ball immediately, and passed it to Sika, as Bill was still otherwise occupied.

Sika managed to take the ball and run with it for a while, but tripped and fell when Leon and Hawk rushed over to block her.

"Sika!" Fox barked, baring his teeth as he ran to her aid.  
"Hey, thanks, but don't worry about me." Sika got up and brushed herself off. "I'm not gonna let myself get hurt, that's for sure."

"Hehe, okay," Fox answered awkwardly. He looked around in embarrasment, but saw that Leon was wearing an equally concerned expression.

"Yeah, we shouldn't take this too seriously," Leon suggested, relaxing his body. He walked over and examined the soccer ball, passing it experimentally between his feet. Soon, his expression surged from confusion to joy.

"See, it's not so hard!" Fox encouraged, digging his feet into the ground to stop himself. It was too rewarding to watch Leon become acquainted with this small, bouncy sphere.

Leon managed to balance the ball on his foot and lifted it above the ground uneasily. Fox, Bill, and Panther all stared in apprehension. The reptile managed to flip the ball up to his knee, and bounce it twice before it his leg and bounced off at a wild angle towards Yume.

Fox whooped and jumped up and down for Leon's achivement. "That's pretty good! You'll play pretty well in no time, I'm sure."

Leon smiled politely in return. "I hope you weren't planning to go easy on me, regardless. I still have my pride."

Fox cracked his knuckles. "Oh, certainly not."

"So...you two want your ball back?" Yume asked. "We did kinda just pause the game."

"Oh, you keep it," Leon scratched his head.

Whiskard and Bill, the two closest to Yume, immediately snapped to attention.

"Alright, guys!" Wolf cut in. "Let's keep going!"

"Okay!" Yume kicked the ball to Hawk, and the two passed it together until they got close to Bill and Whiskard.

Fox and Leon turned back to each other. It was strange, Fox mused. How many times had they fought in space, separated by their Arwing and Wolfen? How many times had they nearly killed each other?

It had been necessary for them to read each other's intentions, of course, but this was different. All you could see then was the ship. Fox remembered how Leon had a way of angling his thrusters a little too sharply to turn, and how he compensated by making very short bursts of thrust.

But it was very different to see Leon's body itself in action, the way he narrowed his eyes and curled his tail. He wondered what quirks of his own Leon was keeping track of.

And besides that, they weren't trying to kill each other anymore. Far from it, they all needed each other to survive.

"Fox," he heard suddenly, and Fox realized that he had been staring up at the wispy clouds above. He looked around, and saw Bill rushing towards him with the ball. "Panther's gaining on us!"

Fox saw a tall feline form approaching from the side, and Leon cheering nervously behind.

"Aha!" Fox yelped, taking the ball from Bill at the last minute. Bill sped ahead, and the two passed the ball between each other across the field.

Fox got to the goal quickly, and made the first point of the game. He was vaguely concerned that Panther and Leon would be angry, but they bowed graciously.

"Glad to see that you're not holding back," Panther remarked as the two teams reassembled.

"We couldn't afford to hold back in our Arwings. Why would we do it now?" Fox remarked.

"Haha, you're great, Fox!" Panther laughed. "I'm glad we can do this now."

"Me too," Fox replied, stretching his arms. "I'm glad we'll be fighting together now."

"It's better this way," Panther agreed. "You're still going down in soccer, though."

With that, Fox was transported for a moment to his childhood, not too long ago, when he had devoted his carefree weekends to playing soccer on fields not too different from their own makeshift field. It didn't matter if it was on Papetoon or Corneria, just how they played. It all felt right in that moment.

The rest of the game passed in something of a blur. Eventually, Bill got a shot in. Leon and Panther's team matched them almost perfectly, and after an hour, neither of them were closer to a third point.

"Guys, can't we just call it a tie? Isn't that fair?" Wolf volunteered, after he judged that Bill and Panther would both be too tired to argue with him.

Panther twirled his tail and sighed. Bill scratched his ears, while Fox and Leon both pretended to drift off and not pay attention.

"But..." Bill finally stammered out.

"No! Everyone is exhausted!" Wolf argued. "You all need to get some water."

"But we tied!" Panther protested.

"Yes, you did," Wolf laughed. "Let's do this the way we always used to settle our disputes."

"What's that?" Bill asked.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Panther declared.

Fox and Leon both whipped around, though for different reasons. Leon had an enthusiastic glint in his eyes, while Fox was containing his shock. Was this really how his enemy team had functioned? With decisions made by rock, paper, scissors?

"Okay, I agree," Bill cracked his knukles. Fox's jaw still hung loose.

"Okay, ready?" Wolf asked. "You know the rules. We only do it once. No 'two out of three' nonsense."

Wolf didn't have to explain, of course. Bill and Panther were already getting started.

"Rock, paper, scissors, go!" They cried out in unison.

Both spread their hands to make a piece of paper. The crowd of Bill's soldiers erupted into boos and jeers.

"Ha! That's what you get!" Leon pointed at Panther, who simply shrugged.

Bill gave an almost apologetic glance to Fox, who simply returned a thumbs up.

Panther pulled in Bill for a quick, conciliatory hug. "We can settle it later," he suggested.

"In bed, maybe?" Bill joked.

"Perhaps," Panther released his hug, though he was now blushing. "How does that old joke go? Reach and flexibility?"

"Something like that, I think," Bill yawned. "You know, I am pretty tired. We should go cool down."

"There's a small canal nearby," Fox suggested. "It's outflow from the fields, so it's a bit murky, but it's still good for swimming."

"That sounds good," Bill replied, wagging his tail. Fox had already started walking to the canal, with Leon, Panther, and everyone else following behind. He saw that some of Bill's soldiers had had the foresight to bring along crates of water, and were handing them out to the rest of the exhausted soccer players.

To Fox's pleasure, the canal was quite clear that day, even if the water was a bit low. There was a bit of algae growing at the banks, but it was the kind that didn't really stick to one's fur.

He took a bottle of water from a crate, and sat down in the grass to watch Leon's crew enjoy the water. Most of them had already jumped in, and those who didn't know how to swim were being helped gingerly by their friends to conquer the water. Leon was immersed up to his eyes, and Bill was splashing at a nervous-looking Panther who still clung to the shore.

If one looked from a distance, it the scene would look no different from a group of native Papetoon students who were celebrating the beginnings of their summer break.

"Want to go swimming?" Fox asked Wolf, who seemed to his eyes focused on the horizon, towards the setting sun.

"Lylat looks weird this way," he replied.

"What do you mean?" Fox stood back up.

"It's still that weird blue, like on Corneria, but it's so much smaller and colder. It makes the sky a different color, too."

"Well, that's mostly because of dust in the atmosphere, not Lylat itself," Fox answered.

"Okay, Mr. Encyclopedia," Wolf teased. "I think I would like to go swimming, actually."

"Great!" Fox led Wolf over to a secluded inlet in the canal, where he could unstrap from his exoskeleton and slide into the water easily.

"I haven't done much swimming," Wolf noted. "Not until Leon taught me on Aquas."

"Do you like it?" Fox asked. He was already waist-deep, eyes distracted by the small insects and minnows that made their homes in the canals.

"Yeah. It's a bit like being in space," Wolf answered. He stepped all the way into the water and began to float on his back. Fox grabbed his his shoulders and smiled on him from above.

"Yeah," Fox agreed. "All the fun of weightlessness, and no fear of decompression."

"I think I could stay like this forever. Just you and the water," Wolf continued.

"Me too," Fox whispered. He looked up for a moment, then back down. A few stars had just become visible in the evening sky.

"Looking for Corneria?" Wolf splashed a bit as he righted himself and began to tread water.

"Not anymore," Fox replied.

The two spent a while floating in the water together. They swam over to where Bill's soldiers and Leon's crew were. It seemed that a giant splash contest had broken out between them, and Fox wondered idly if some maintenance worker might come out tomorrow only to be baffled by what had displaced so much water. Fox and Wolf drifted among the chaos, lost for once in a pleasant dearth of thoughts.

It was a pleasure, however, to watch Leon, Bill, Panther, and all their respective henchmen grin madly while throwing handfuls of water at each other, creating a glittering nebula of mist and spray.

Eventually it got too dark, and the whole troupe had to retire back to the camp. Whiskard, the only one who had thought to bring a flashlight, led the way back, and people began to filter quietly into their tents. Fox noticed a few of Bill's soldiers remain with Leon's encampment. He saw Bill give Panther a tight hug before the each headed off to their own tents.

"So, what do you think?" Panther asked after he and Leon had settled into their mattresses.

"I think I'm staying here," Leon took a deep breath. "This would all be too much to give up."

"Great!" Panther declared. "I'm glad we're sticking together."

"Thanks," Leon chuckled. "I'm a bit surprised you didn't go with Bill."

"Eh, we'll have time together in the future," Panther replied. "Besides, you're still my best friend."

"Really? That...means a lot," Leon tossed around on his mattress. "I can't believe how mushy we've become."

"It's better this way," Panther yawned. "It's not good to be in survival mode all the time."

"That's true," Leon mused. "I guess it's silly, but I feel like today has given me something to fight for."

"Good," Panther replied. "I think that's the right attitude to have."

"Hm, then who is going to be your logical robot, Panther?" Leon joked.

"Oh, I have no doubt you'll be able to do both," Panther assured his friend.

"Thanks," Leon yawned. "Okay, have a good night. And thanks."

"Goodnight, and no thanks necessary."

"I think we accomplished a lot today," Wolf remarked as he dried himself off.

"What do you mean by that?" Fox asked. "Fun isn't a mission."

"I know, but did you see Leon and Panther? They looked really happy! More than I'd ever seen them."

"You're right," Fox agreed. "And I'm glad Bill found someone too."

"It only makes sense," Wolf concluded. "Panther loves to put on a show."

"I guess we get to be the audience," Fox laughed.

"Did you ever expect to end up back on Papetoon?" Wolf fell back on his mattress, making a big puffing sound.

"No," Fox draped himself carefull over Wolf. "Definitely not like this, either. Somehow my life has gone full circle."

"In a good way, I hope," Wolf wrapped his arms around Fox, tracing the curve of his shoulders.

"Yeah," Fox sighed and nestled his head on Wolf's chest. "You know, we could do it for you too. Go back to Macbeth or something."

"Ah, well," Wolf took a long, pensive breath. "I won't be happy until Macbeth isn't a galactic punching bag anymore."

"I can't promise you that, but there's a lot we can do now."

"I know," Wolf drummed his fingers on Fox's back. "I'm grateful for that."

"Me too," Fox yawned. "We should sleep. I love you."

"I love you too."

The two drifted into sleep, their dreams both for once as soft as water.


	21. The Shore

Meanwhile, The Same Day:

"Do you ever think about how we don't have to do this, Falco?"

The tall avian and his companion Slippy were outside their tent, doing their workout routines for the morning. Falco was doing pushups, jumping and clapping between each, while Slippy did jumping jacks.  
"What do you mean?" Falco eased himself down and flipped onto his back to take a break. His angular chest rose and fell quickly with his deep breaths.

"Well," Slippy stopped his jumping jacks and sat down, "in the end, there's really no reason to keep ourselves this physically fit. It's not necessary for piloting ships."

"Haha, well, you're free to stop exercising with me, Slippy," Falco snapped his beak.

"No, it's not that!" Slippy waved his arms in a way that more mammalian people couldn't quite manage. "I like doing this together. But am I wrong?"

"So that's what matters, isn't it?" Falco laughed and spread out his arms and legs on the grass, still wet with dew. "You're not wrong, but I think I prefer to exercise anyway."

"I know, but think about it. We don't need muscles to fly. We already plug our brains directly into the ship! What if one day, they just take our brains and put them right in the Arwings?"

"What, like when we graduate the academy or something?" Falco picked a blade of grass from the ground, twirling it in his fingers. "They just walk you across the stage and then pluck your brain out?"

"Perhaps," Slippy twiddled his thumbs. "Maybe one day they'll just grow brains inside ships from the beginning."

Falco curled up his arms and shuddered. "Stars above, Slippy, this is so creepy! How do you come up with this stuff!?"

Slippy shrugged. "It's just fun to think about."

Falco hopped back up to his feet, and stretched his arms. "I always have fun with you, that's for sure."

"Thanks, Falco!" Slippy jumped back up to his feet. "It means a lot to me."

"Well, you mean a lot to me," Falco replied, in curious flat tone which meant that he really did care, though only his friends understood that.

The two went back to the tent to wash off and change into everyday clothes. Falco made a note to thank President Okifu for bringing enough shower tents for all of them. He had been shocked at how much basic hygiene they had all abandoned during the War, and was glad that at least for now, he could keep his feathers smooth.

"Heyyy, wha'rre youtwo upto?" Wolf asked, his voice muffled as he tried to pick his head up from Fox's chest. Fox opened his eyes and attempted to lift his head up as well.

"Don't worry about it," Slippy replied, smiling and giving a thumbs up.

Wolf looked petulant for a moment, but decided against saying anything, and lay his head back down on Fox, who also relented. Falco and Slippy both sighed in relief, and they hurried out of the tent.

"Wow, this is nice," Slippy remarked as they neared the city. It happened to be the end of the flooding season, and the canals were returning to their normal levels. The enormous stone domes and thin, elegant arches of Itoh City were not nearly as tall and intricate as the towers of Corneria, but the pair of Cornerians felt awed regardless. Despite being relatively young, the city had an aura of great age, as if it had been carved out of the ancient desert sands thousands of years ago. Rather than dominating the landscape, the city simply flowed out from it.

"Do you think we're really doing the right thing?" Slippy shifted a bit on his toes, which with his muscular legs meant that he hopped nearly a head above Falco for a moment. "I mean, planning Fox's wedding for him, in secret."

"Pff, definitely," Falco clicked. "Left on their own, he and Wolf would probably just make hot dogs or something. I'd rather have an actual celebration."

Slippy held his belly and laughed. "Yeah, that's definitely true. They deserve something nice."

The pair spent several minutes wandering through the narrow alleyways of the city, afloat in the crowd of Papetoonites. They kept mostly to themselves, expressions carefully mitigated by those strange golden masks, and body language muted by heavy neutral-colored clothing.

They soon reached the great bronze plaza in the middle of the city, where the crowds finally thinned out. Falco shivered a bit as a gust of cool wind blew from between some of the taller skyscrapers. _Slippy can't possibly like this climate,_ Falco mused, but the amphibian seemed unperturbed.

"Hey look, a bakery!" he hopped, pulling Falco along. Sure enough, there was a small metal door nestled between two much larger buildings, with an improbably large sign above it that said "Kuroi's Bakery."

"Looks promising," Falco agreed, and the two went over.

They were greeted by a tall black cat in a white suit, holding a large basket of delicate-looking pastries.

"Good morning! My name is Shin Kuroi! Can I interest you in some-"

"Whoah, thanks!" Falco snatched a pastry from the basket and gulped it down in one bite, eliciting a look of horror from the cat.

Slippy coughed politely. The feline collected himself, and extended the basket to the amphibian with a new smile.

He looked at the assortment carefully, and picked a fruit tart delicately off the top. He tried to eat it slowly, which pleased the cat, though Slippy had to admit that his mouth wasn't really made for nibbling.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked, tail swishing impatiently.

"Mh, yesh," Falco replied, his tail swishing back and forth. "That was delicious, thank you. But yes, actually, we're trying to plan a wedding. Do you happen to have any water?"

Kuroi covered his mouth to laugh, a soft bubbling sound that made the cat's whole body vibrate slightly.

"Oh, that's wonderful! When will it be?"  
"Actually, we don't know," Slippy admitted.

"Okay, how many people?" Kuroi asked, more fascinated than annoyed now.  
"I mean," Falco rolled on his feet and glanced at Slippy as he came to the realization, "All things considered, it could be about two thousand..."

"Two thousand! Is this a joke!?" The black cat set his basket down to avoid harming it in his frustration. "Are you trying to mess with me?"

"No, no, we're serious!" Slippy protested. "We're with the soldiers from Corneria. It's just...you know, everyone is going to want to join in."

"Ooohhh, I see," the feline picked up his basket, and stroked his small beard. "I guess that makes sense...okay, come on in. I'm interested."

Falco and Slippy sighed, and did a quick high-five as they walked in.

"Shun!" he called out to the back, placing his basket behind the counter. "Would you bring some tea?"

"Sure thing!" came a high but strong voice, accompanied by a brown wolf holding a pot of tea and four cups.

"Thanks, honey," Kuroi said, kissing the wolf on the cheek and distributing the four cups on a small table. The wolf poured tea in each cup with an almost academic precision.

"No problem. So, who are these people?" the wolf asked, folding his arms. He wore a blue robe which hung loosely against his slight frame.

"Oh, uh, I'm Falco Lombardi," he replied, playing with a stray feather on his arm.

"Oh!" Kuroi gasped and put down his tea. "By the stars, _the_ Falco!? And you must be Slippy!"

"You're right!" Slippy declared.

"It's an honor!" Shun stood up, knocking over his chair, and bowed as low as he could.

Kuroi slowly guided his partner back to an upright position, and sat him back in the chair.

Falco and Slippy both nodded, and tried to conceal their expressions politely.

"Shun, come on now, they may have saved Corneria, but they still have business to do."

"Hehe, you're right," Shun nodded. "Sorry, I've uh, I played the Lylat Wars game as soon as it came out. That doesn't sound very impressive now that I've said it."

"Oh," Falco nodded. "You know, coming from you, that's actually really touching."

Shun shook his head in embarrassment. "I know, I know. It's just a cheap and insulting money grab. I'm sure it has nothing to do with what actually happened."

"No, it doesn't," Slippy added. "But I'm touched that you tried to understand that way."

"Wait, so did you play it too?" Shun asked.

"Of course!" Slippy replied. "I had to see. I do like what they did for Andross."

"The giant floating head? Yeah, that was interesting..."

So, whose wedding is it?" Kuroi interrupted. Slippy and Shun jumped back to reality.

"Oh, so the wedding is for Fox," Falco began, and watched the two figures in front of him tense up again in surprise.

"And Wolf," Slippy completed.

"No joke?" Kuroi asked, blinking. "That's uh, more than a wedding. That's like a peace treaty. That's an interplanetary event."

Falco sighed. "I dunno. We hope so. But we just want them to be happy for this."

"Right, of course," Kuroi drummed his fingers on the old wooden table, and threw up a holographic list of contacts on the wall.

"So, there's a lot we need to sort out then," Kuroi continued. "Do you want music? What kind of ceremony?"

"I don't know. We were hoping it could be a surprise for them," Falco replied.

"Hm, it's not like any of us are religious or anything..." Slippy mused.

"We know an innkeeper downtown named Torahiko Ooshima. He does a lot of secular weddings," Shun suggested, still apparently vibrating with admiration for the two figures across from him.

"Oh, and Kouya might be able to do some music..." Kuroi added. "Maybe I can call them over now. Pardon me a moment..."

The cat began typing quickly on his phone.

"Sorry to pry, but I'd like to ask something," Slippy sipped the last of his tea and set the cup down carefully.

"Sure thing," Shun said, refilling the cup without pause.

"Are you two..."

"Haha, yes! We're married," Shun laughed, "Fortunately they don't care much here on Papetoon. How about you two?"

Slippy and Falco both shifted awkardly in their seats.

"Nah, I don't think either of us are really looking right now..." Slippy replied.

"I'm not interested, period," Falco declared. "And I think Slippy here is already married to science anyway."

"Hey, I might settle down one day!" Slippy protested. "I still talk with that girl Amanda sometimes. Besides, what about you and Katt? What's she up to these days?"

"I think she's on patrol on Eladard now, but we haven't talked in years," Falco shrugged.

"Haha, there's time for both of you, I think," Shin laughed. "I've been trying to set up Kouya with-"

Suddenly, there was a ring at the door. A tiger and a gray husky made their way in, carrying between them a large basket of food. "Hey guys!" the tiger called out. "We brought lunch."

"Torahiko! Kouya!" Shun and Shin greeted their friends. "It's great to see you both."

A few hours later, Falco and Slippy had, to their own surprise, successfully planned a surprise wedding for Fox, Wolf, and potentially two thousand soldiers.

"Well, I personally can't wait," Shin concluded. "It was a pleasure doing this."

"Likewise," Slippy and Falco agreed.

"You seem like a good group of friends," Slippy remarked. "I hope we can stay in touch sometimes."

"Certainly!" Shun answered. "We'll see you next week, then."

"See you then!" Falco replied. Shin gave them each another treat as they went out the door.

"I can't believe we spent 7,000 credits on that," Slippy commented as soon as they were a block or so away.

"It's a good deal, considering," Falco insisted.

"Yeah, I just hope everything goes well," Slippy looked over at the rushing canal in front of them. "So, it's still early. What should we do now?"

"Let's see if there's something exciting to do," Falco mused. "How about that mountain over there? Can we climb that?"

Slippy hadn't noticed the mountain much before, but it was enormous. It seemed to extend somehow beyond the sky, bright red mineral veins blending to blue only at the edge of sight. It was surely larger than any natural feature on Corneria.

"Oh, that's Yamasa Mountain!" he exclaimed. "I've read about it before. It would be cool to see."

"Yeah!" Falco was already looking at the tram schedule on his phone. "Okay, there's one going over that way in two minutes. We need to hurry!" He grabbed Slippy by the arm and hurried over to the station.

Soon after, the two had found a small, empty ticket booth in dim cave set into the mountain's side.

"Uh, hello?" Slippy tapped on the glass.

"Oh!" they heard dimly, followed by a few muffled curse words and a rustling of papers. A tanuki appeared in the booth and turned some lights on.

"Hello, I'm Kounosuke! I'm sorry about the mess here. We don't get many visitors."

"Seriously?" Falco tapped at a large crystal sticking out from the wall. "It seems like an impressive landmark."

"You're telling me! Yamasa Mountain is the highest peak in the Lylat Cluster," Kounosuke replied. "I don't know why more people aren't interested."

"But I'm happy you're here!" he added. "What would you like to see? You can climb up around the edge as much or as little as you want. There's also a funicular that goes up all the way to the top if you just want to see the sights."

"Hm, let's do the funicular," Falco offered. "We've done our exercise for the day already."

"Hehe, sounds good," Kounosuke nodded. "Right this way."

"So you'll see," Kounosuke began narrating immediately as they walked, "Yamasa Mountain is not a mountain in the Cornerian or Venomian sense. Rather, it's a massive chunk of the Papetoon crust which has been punched upward by volcanic activity billions of years ago. If anything, it's more like a mesa. The outer edges are about 10 kilometers above sea level, and the peak is 20 kilometers above."

Slippy nodded enthusiastically.

"How old is it?" Falco asked.

"About three billion years," Kounosuke replied. "It was probably formed by a combination of tectonic collisions and an asteroid impact on the other side of the planet. Pretty much the last geological activity on the planet, actually."

"You know your stuff," Slippy commented. "Where are you from?"

"Oh, thanks, but I'm just a tour guide," Kounosuke waved his hands. "I grew up here. How about you two?"

"I see," Falco nodded. "Oh, sorry, I'm Falco Lombardi. This is Slippy Toad," he continued with a flourish.

"Nice to meet you," Kounosuke nodded.

Falco sulked for a moment as he realized Kounosuke had no recognition of their names. He glanced over to Slippy, who smiled and shrugged.

"So where are you two from? What brought you here to little old Papetoon?" the tanuki continued.

"Uh, business," Falco replied while he tried to invent a story to deflect further questions.

"Yeah, we're, eh, accountants" Slippy added. "We, uh, we were going to Katina but our ship got damaged in the fighting."

"Right, right," Kounosuke nodded. "Terrible stuff going on. Not good for tourism. But it'll be better in the end, I'm sure of it!"

Slippy and Falco smiled nervously. "We hope so."

"Yeah. Anyway," Kounosuke opened the doors to the funicular and bowed. "Come on in! It's about twenty minutes to the peak."

"That's actually really fast," Slippy noted.

"Yeah, it's like a tiny space ship!" Kounosuke clapped his hands. "It even has a small G-diffuser for emergencies."

"Very impressive," Falco replied with exaggerated seriousness.

"Alright, let's get going," Kounosuke flipped a switch, and the funicular began to roll along on its track. The great heights of the mountain began to rush past them. "We'll experience some high accelerations, so you may want to...ah, I see you two are doing just fine."

Eventually, as the soft greens of the surface gave way to the hard reds and browns of the high rock, much too cold for life, the funicular slowed and stopped itself at the edge of the volcano's crater.

It was still day, but the atmosphere was now thin, and they could see only thin wisps of clouds hanging below the stars.

"Oh, look!" Slippy pointed at a glittering puff of metal wreckage above them. Periodically a piece would get too close to the atmosphere, and disappear in a flash of white. That's where..."

"Wow!" Falco whistled. "That's where it was."

"I never thought about how it would have looked from the ground," Slippy commented.

"Well, you know how I feel about that," Falco replied. "I much prefer the air."

"So this is where your ship got attacked?" Kounosuke asked, startling the pair from their solemn moment. "Man, that's crazy. It's good that you guys are okay, right?"

"Yeah," Slippy answered, trying to pass off his thick emotions as a yawn. "Fortunately we were all okay."

"Good," the tanuki nodded. "Alright, let's go back down now. I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Falco and Slippy returned to a scene similar to the one they had left, now with Fox resting his head on Wolf's chest. The two looked asleep, but Fox managed to lift his head up and speak.

"What were you guys up to today?" Fox demanded.

"Don't worry, you'll see," Falco assured him.

"What? When?" Fox blinked.

"Soon enough," Slippy added. "What did you guys do today? You look exhausted."

"Soccer with Leon's crew," Fox explained. "Then swimming."

"Sounds like a good day," Falco commented.

"It was," Fox agreed. "How about you two?"

"We had a very satisfying day," Falco continued. "Got a lot of things planned."

"Is that so? I guess I won't interrogate you too much, then..." Fox yawned, and drooped back off into sleep.

Falco wiped his brow. "Phwew, that was close. Let's get to bed too."

"Way ahead of you," Slippy replied, already sitting down on his mattress. "Goodnight."

"You too."


	22. As Stars Fall

"To be frank, Madame President, Zoness is going to need more than this," the elegant blue frog said, adjusting his glasses.

"I understand, Premier Anoura," Okifu nodded. "I know it will be hard on your economy. We can provide aid for the time being."

The Premier shook his head. "And also to Fortuna, and even Titania and Fichina? All of these worlds were set up to be dependent on Corneria or Venom. You'll have to come up with a bigger plan before convincing all of us to cut ties."

There was a chorus of agreement from the representatives of those worlds. Even the diplomat from Fortuna, a hulking reptile, nodded sincerely.

"Katina was in the same situation," a elderly german shepherd, the Katinian Chancellor, declared.

"We were able to throw off Cornerian governance on our own."

"You have twenty times our population!" Anoura spat back. "And you had assistance from Eladard, which _itself_ is still under Corneria's thumb."

"We wouldn't be, except that Macbeth promised and failed to deliver any weapons." A sigh from a young bird, the diplomat from Eladard.

"That's because Venom attacked us!" Exclaimed the Macbethian representative, a disheveled but fierce-looking red wolf. "Would you rather be under Venomian domination instead?"

"Everyone, please!" President Okifu yelled out.

"I know I don't have all the answers. I know our worlds have long and complicated histories. But there must be a way for us to work together, so Venom and Corneria don't trample over us again and again."

The other representatives grew quiet. The diplomat from Eladard rubbed his beak.

"Okay," Premier Anoura agreed, cleaning his glasses with a cloth. "We should all meet up in person to do this. Holograms won't be enough."

"Where should we go?" Okifu wondered.

"How about Astropolis Station?" the Katinian Chancellor suggested. "It's far enough away from everything to be basically neutral."

A wave of nods from the group.

"I'm sure it will take time for everyone to prepare, so how about Astropolis, exactly two weeks from now?" Okifu suggested.

"Sounds good," Premier Anoura and the Fortunan representative declared.

"Alright. Thank you all for talking today."

President Okifu hit a switch, and the great holographic meeting hall flickered and disappeared, morphing back into her small study.

She sat back and stirred a cup of coffee. The implications of her proposal were just now catching up to her.

Lylat had always been dominated by those two worlds, Corneria and Venom. This most recent War was only the most intense of many previous conflicts between them. Would it ever be possible to break the cycle? Would _she_ be able to do it?

She stood up and called her secretary. She figured that he might be home and busy with his children, but the spry mockingbird answered from his office immediately.

"Mr. Dhegas, can you arrange transport to Astropolis in exactly two weeks?"

"Yes ma'am, but...just you? Would that be safe?"

"Hm, perhaps I should invite Fox and Wolf too."

"Why not bring our entire new fleet? That would make a good impression."

"No, I don't want to come off _too_ strong."

"Good point. Alright, tickets to Astropolis coming right up."

"Thanks Dhegas. Go spend some time with your kids after this."

"I'll try, but I still have to look through those mining reports from last month."

"Haha, well, that's why you're my secretary and nobody else. Thanks."

"No problem."

"So I ask you again, Dr. Felix," the Councilor, a muscular white husky, sighed and struck the labrador on the cheek with his long wooden cane.

"What the _hell_ happened!? Fox was under _your_ care! _You_ certified that he was psychologically fit to fly again. And now he's tearing Lylat apart before our eyes! What do you have to say for yourself?"

John Felix blinked and stared for a moment out the window from the top of the General's Tower. He saw an enormous crowd surronding the Tower, at all levels of the city, swaying and flowing like one. A thin line of riot police is all that protected the Tower. It struck him how similar it looked to the crowd that had deposed General Pepper.

"Well, it's not all your fault," the Councilor tapped his cane on the chair. "Nobody realized that Fox might have such...perverse sexual tendencies. He does not, as you said, 'exhibit the typical characteristics.'"

"That's correct," Dr. Felix nodded.  
"But you are one of the best psychologists in the world," the Councilor continued. "There was nothing that made you suspect?"

"Maybe," Dr. Felix groaned, "But sir, these things take time. I told you that he could fly, but I did warn you that he might still be unstable."

"Ugh, you people are so pedantic," the Councilor stepped on Dr. Felix's toes. "I know that. I read your report. It was very dry and technical, and _nowhere did you warn us that he might be capable of destroying our Space Force!_ " he roared.

Felix laughed. It was the only thing he could do in his position. "Should I have to spell it all out? Did you not see what he did in the War?"

"Not the point!" the Councilor retorted, his tongue flailing wildly. "In the end, it's just a temporary setback. But somebody will have to pay for his mistake."

Felix's heart sank. So this is how he would die. Tied to a chair, in the same room where he had once given acclaimed lectures to dignitaries from around the planet. It only made sense.

The Councilor struck him across the muzzle. There was no precision in his blow, only anger.

 _No. I can't do this. I can't just give up. Even at his lowest point, Fox didn't give up._ _I wonder what he's thinking about now._ _And by the Stars, he may be a homosexual, but he can't be a bad person. I know him._

Something snapped in the old psychologist. He found himself thanking his age for once, as his frail arms allowed him to suddenly slip out of the ropes tying him up.

He stood up suddenly, making the Councilor trip mid-blow. He bolted to the door and ran to the service elevator.

"Hey! You're definitely paying for that!" the husky grabbed at the labrador, missing by only a hair.

Dr. Felix just barley managed to squeeze into the elevator, and punched in to go to the ground floor at the highest speed. He lurched as the elevator descended, making him lighter for a few moments.

 _Wait, what am I doing? The guards are just going to get me at the bottom._ _Oh well._

There was a ding, and the doors opened. He ran through the empty halls of the ground floor, tearing as many priceless portraits and knocking over as many beautiful vases as he could, until he was outside, behind the line of guards surrounding the tower.

 _Ah, of course, why would they pay attention to me?_

Felix sat down and carefully lay himself prone, so that he could crawl underneath the guards.

"Whoah, what the!?" one exclaimed as he opened visor to watch the old man crawling under his legs. He gulped and looked at his comrade, who shook his head behind his own opaque gold visor. How could they shoot an old man on the ground?

"Stop!" The Councilor had reached the ground, and stood outside the door. "Get that man!"

But Dr. Felix had already disappeared into the crowd.

He stood up, slowly and awkwardly, and shuffled away from the tower. It was slow going, pushing against the crowd. He found that he moved faster by being pushed away by angry protesters than he could walk himself.

"Move old man, geez!"

"Why are you out here? Go home!"

"Sorry," he said meekly to each one, until he finally found an empty alleyway. He leaned against a rusty dumpster and slid down to the ground, eventually curling up like a child.

 _Pathetic_ , he thought. _But at least I'm free._

Dr. Felix sighed and tried to sit upright. _So what now?_ _I don't think I can move much more unless I get these wounds treated._

He pulled out his phone and decided to call his son, John, for help. But before that, Fox's name caught his eye. He couldn't help but wonder what he might have to say for himself, this young man who had torn planets asunder. There was only one way to find out.

"Wait, I'm sorry, I'm getting a call," Fox excused himself from the long table that they had set up outside for meals. He and Bill had just finished their first major exercise with their entire fleet, bringing it up into orbit for a day of war games, and down again in the same place. He could almost believe that he was back at the Academy.

Fox decided uncharacteristically to seek some privacy behind one of the tents, and he was glad that he did. His jaw dropped a bit when he saw the name.

 _Dr. Felix? But why_ _is he calling me_ _?_ _And how?_ _Didn't they cut the public channels?_ He answered the call.

"Dr. Felix?" Fox scratched his ears.

"Fox! I'm glad to see you! Are you well?"  
"Yes, though you don't look it." Fox squinted his eyes at the image. "Who's yelling? Are you sitting next to a dumpster?"

"The answers are everyone, and yes," Dr. Felix replied. "It's been chaos since Papetoon declared secession. I can only call you now because I had some private channels set up a long time ago."

Fox smiled. "That was smart of you. What's going on? Do you need something?"

Dr. Felix gave a sharp, wild laugh. "Hah! Yes, could you pick up some eggs on the way home?"

Fox blinked. The psychologist had never been sarcastic during their sessions.

"I'm going to ramble now, but look," the old man continued, "They didn't tell you, but the Council asked me to certify that you were fit to fly, which I did. So when you went rogue, it was my ass on the line. I just escaped from being beaten by them, actually."  
Fox gulped. "I'm sorry, I didn't think about that."

Dr. Felix giggled. "Don't worry. After all, I didn't realize that you are gay. Some psychologist I am!"

Fox was silent for a minute. "So, what do you think about it now?"

The canid shrugged. "Sexuality isn't my specialty, so I don't care. But I feel awful for those like you who might have slipped through the cracks. I can only hope you can do something about it."

"That's a tall order," Fox replied.

"I know," Felix shook his head. "The protests are huge now, and if the Council really falls, there's nothing to replace it. But you're well-connected. If you can't help restore order to Corneria, I don't know who can."

Fox snorted, a combined sound of disbelief and despair. An image of General Pepper saying his characteristic "Good luck!" flashed into his mind.

"Well, I've taken enough of your time," the psychologist decided. "Thanks for talking with me."

"Sure," Fox nodded slowly. "I hope you get to safety. And...I'm sorry for being such an asshole during our sessions."

Dr. Felix beamed. "Aw, you weren't too bad. But I should get going. I'm going to call my son to find me. Goodbye."

And with that, Dr. Felix cut the call, leaving a stunned Fox leaning against the side of his tent, drumming his fingers.

Fox turned around to go back and jumped a bit when he saw Wolf staring from the corner of the tent, with a conflicted look on his face.

"Who was that?" he asked, walking over to reveal Bill, Falco, and Slippy also peeking from the corner.

"Geez, can't I have some privacy?" Fox laughed. "It was my psychologist, Dr. Felix. He's hurt. There's huge protests on Corneria."

"I'm sorry," Wolf hung his head, seemingly unsure how to offer comfort.

"I guess this was bound to happen..." Fox walked over and fell into Wolf's arms, flinching only slightly when he felt the cold metal of the exoskeleton still supporting his legs.

"I just hope all this fighting ends one day," Wolf whispered.

"It has to," Fox mused.

"Yeah," Wolf agreed. "Let's go back."

"Right."

For the most part everyone had finished their dinner, and were filing away back to their tents. Fox and Wolf had volunteered to do the dishes that night, so they went across the table collecting the plates and cutlery to clean off in the small makeshift kitchen.

"So you had a psychologist too?" Wolf asked, looking down at the large sink filling with water.

"Uh, yeah," Fox gave Wolf a handful of dirty plates and bowls to wash, then took out a stack of drying rags. "Some Dr. Masao Felix. It was actually one of General Pepper's programs. I just never used it until after the War."

"I see," Wolf began cleaning the plates with an admirable efficiency, scrubbing each surface exactly as much as it needed. "Did it help?"

"I...guess so. I didn't take it very seriously. But it did help, in the end."

"That's understandable," Wolf handed back the first few plates for Fox to dry and stack up.

"Yeah," Fox tried replicating Wolf's motions while drying the plates, but decided that he was too obsessive. "So, what about you?"  
"Yep, they made me see a psychologist in prison." Wolf "One Dr. Canada Shoen."

Fox's ears perked up at that. "Hm, I think I've heard that name before."

"I'd imagine they know each other," Wolf commented. "Some clean pans for you."

"Thanks," Fox "Careful, here's some knives and spoons."

"Noted," Wolf took the cutlery and managed to arrange it all in a row on his hand, cleaning the full set with a few confident motions. He set them back next to Fox for him to dry.

"So, tell me more. How did you start? What was it like?" Wolf grabbed a huge pot of soup, covered with grime, and began scrubbing vigorously.

"Well, Falco set it up for me," Fox admitted. "I had an apartment to myself, but I didn't leave it for months at a time. You saw it was before."

"Right," Wolf remembered. "Sorry, I guess I wasn't thinking."

"Don't say sorry. We never really talked about this before," Fox insisted, finishing up the batch of cutlery that Wolf had left.

"Heh, okay." Wolf agreed. "Keep going."

"Yeah, so Falco realized this program still had funding and set me up with Dr. Felix basically to at least get me out of bed."

"But why were you feeling so down? You won!" Wolf had taken a break from the soup pot to clean some more plates.

"Exactly," Fox sighed. "So my life had no purpose anymore, and nothing changed."

"Oh," Wolf shook his head. "That makes sense."

Fox yawned and stretched his arms. "Well, what about you?"

"Right," Wolf dried his hands off for a moment to squeeze Fox's shoulder. Then the two went back to work. "So, uh, they basically had me see a psychologist to make sure I wasn't dangerous. Seriously, they thought I'd go on a killing spree."

"Yikes! That doesn't sound fun." Fox picked up the soup pot, which Wolf had finally finished scrubbing.

"It wasn't, but not for that reason," Wolf replied, grabbing a few bowls to clean.

"I mean, I expected people to be distrustful. But my crew had also all just died or abandoned me. And it made me nervous that I was captured, not killed. Like they had a plan, 'cause I sure as hell didn't."

Wolf had put the bowls down and was looking at his hand as if he wasn't sure it existed. "I'll give her credit, Dr. Shoen helped me to keep going. I don't know what I'd have done otherwise."

Fox grabbed Wolf from behind and hugged him tightly. "It's probably selfish of me, but I'm glad things worked out the way they did. As long as you have a reason to live for yourself."

"Yeah," Wolf grabbed Fox's hands. "I'm glad too."

Wolf swirled some of the soapy water in the sink, and slapped a bunch of bubbles playfully on Fox's arm. "We should finish up."

"Hehe, right." Fox released his grip and went back to drying the rest of the dishes. Wolf finished washing the bowls. The two put the dishes away, and closed up the kitchen tent for the night.

They walked hand in hand back to their own tent, taking a moment to enjoy the lights of the city off in the distance, and the stars far above them.

"Hey, Fox," Wolf asked after he had taken off his exoskeleton and climbed into bed. "I hope this doesn't alarm you, but I was wondering something."

"What's that?" Fox examined Wolf's leg for a moment, though his companion had been insistent on taking care of it on his own.

"It's just, this marriage thing, do you think we're going too fast?"

Fox looked away for a minute. "I don't know. Do you? It's a big commitment. Maybe I spoke too soon."

"Hm..." Wolf though for a moment. "Maybe, but I'd prefer to rush things. If you're okay with that."

Fox laughed. "Of course. I asked first, didn't I?"

"You did," Wolf replied, pulling Fox down onto the bed.

"So what should we do for it?" Fox asked, putting his head on Wolf's chest.

"Heck if I know," Wolf replied. "Let's think about that later."

"You're right," Fox closed his eyes. "Goodnight, Wolf."

"Goodnight, Fox."


	23. Forever and Always

Note:

Thank you, my dear readers, for following along and being patient with me. I was very nervous to write the wedding chapter, so I apologize that it has taken so long. I hope you enjoy.

"Orbiting close to the brown dwarf called Solar, Astropolis Station is the oldest continually occupied space station in Lylat. Although Corneria and Venom both began making space stations about two centuries before Astropolis was even conceived of, none of these stations lasted more than a few decades, and certainly none of the pieces survive to the present day.

Astropolis was not intended to become a permanent fixture of the Lylat system. It was originally constructed by Venom as a temporary fueling station for their first interstellar ships. At this time, it consisted of nothing but a ring of fuel tanks with four docking stations spaced evenly, rotated to provide artifical gravity (our modern system of gravity diffusion and confinement had not yet been developed.)

Only a few decades after it was constructed, Astropolis Station was the site of the infamous First Contact incident between Corneria and Venom. Although the Interstellar Accords resulting from the incident carved the Lylat Cluster into Venomian and Cornerian zones of influence, a useful exchange of ideas between the two worlds began almost immediatley.

Astropolis Station was rebuilt from its original tungsten framework to serve as a place of diplomacy between the two worlds, where disagreements could (hopefully) be settled free of distraction from the outside universe.

Unfortunately, although supposedly "intelligent" beings have proven more greedy and warlike than those original idealistic authors of the Interstellar Accords imagined, Astropolis Station has endured, changing hands between Corneria, Venom, and even Katina numerous times. It has survived attacks by kinetic weapons, gamma ray lasers, and even antimatter.

Today Astropolis Station is an independent political entity, with a population of twenty million people. It is self-sufficient in terms of food production, and gets most of its mineral resources from the handful of asteroids and comets that orbit Solar. It mostly exports specialized manufactured goods, and imports various chemicals which it cannot make on its own. It trades primarily with Katina, Macbeth, and Eladard. Astropolis Station still uses rotation to provide a comfortable gravity of 0.8 Cornerian standard acceleration, or 0.7 Venomian standard. Its inertia is so large that slowing it down to convert to modern gravity confinement would not be economical.

Now, let us examine the engineering which has made this all possible. The present day Astropolis Station is shaped like a cylinder, thirty kilometers long and five kilometers in radius. It is open on the ends, and features a large artificial light suspended at the center, powered by a dedicated fission reactor. The outer layer of this system is a framework of diamondoid members wrapped in graphene..."

\- Excerpt from "History of Structural Engineering" by Ewe Arup

Fox awoke to the whirring of drills and the pounding of hammers. His eyes opened with an uncharacteristic flash of irritation. He sat up next to Wolf, who was somehow still snoring softly.

After a moment of indecision, he stood up and went out on his own to see what the noise was.

Fox rubbed his eyes, and his jaw dropped. At the center of the tent city, dozens of people were erecting a wooden stage with a podium at the front. There were giant pots of steaming food nearby, all attended to by a thin wolf and a hyperactive black cat, and even a band tuning their instruments.

At the edge of the chaos, Fox could make out Falco and Slippy talking to an imposing-looking tiger in a jade green suit.

Fox started running over to Falco, narrowly avoiding being knocked over by a giant green dragon carrying a stack of wooden boards.

Fox shot a look back at the dragon, but he just laughed and kept going.

"Hey, Fox, good morning!" Falco called over. "This is Mr. Ooshima..."

Fox huffed as he approached Falco, bowed briefly to the tiger, and immediately pulled the avian off to the side. Falco's eyes adopted a rare expression of wariness. He had to admit though, the jade suit looked very good on that tiger.

"Just...please explain," Fox asked, laughing when he saw Falco's countenance fall. "You obviously put a lot of thought into this."

"It's uh, for your wedding," Falco scratched his head. "We just figured we should do something nice."

Fox gulped and forced back a critical remark. _Dammit, I can't believe Falco did all this planning without even mentioning it! I didn't really want to do anything special! Hm, that's probably why they didn't mention it, then._

Falco crossed his arms and leaned back on the tent. "I know it's partly selfish, but can't you let us have a celebration?"

Fox made a mock pensive expression and stretched his arms, noticing the tiger waiting patiently nearby with his book. Slippy had appeared next to the tiger as well, his big eyes darting between Fox and Falco.

"Of course! I mean, this is not what I was expecting, but I'm really touched. I couldn't have asked for more caring friends."

Falco and Slippy sighed and smiled. Seeing their relief, Fox extended his arms and joined the other two in a group hug.

"Okay," Fox began. "So, who is Mr. Ooshima?"

"Yes, right!" Falco snapped back to attention. "He'll be leading the ceremony. He's registered to perform marriges on Papetoon."

"Wonderful! It's a pleasure to meet you," Fox took the tiger's hand now, who gave a broad smile and returned the handshake.

"The pleasure is all mine," Ooshima replied. "I'll do my best. And don't worry, your friends planned out a nice, simple ceremony."

"Thank you, that's good to hear," Fox nodded. "Who's everyone else?"

Ooshima looked around. "Oh, that's Kouya and his band Musikus over there, and Shin and Shun are over there cooking. Tatsuki and his crew, Kyouji, Soutarou, and Juuichi are all building the stage. Kounosuke is somewhere, I'm sure."

"So you all know each other?" Fox asked.

"Yep, we grew up here, and we've all been friends since childhood!" Ooshima declared proudly. "And please, just call me Torahiko."

"Will do," Fox nodded. "So what is your normal job, then?"

"Oh, I run the Red Crane Inn, over downtown," Torahiko pointed, though they were too far away to see the city. "Uh, Tatsuki makes furniture. We've all got interesting jobs, I think."

"So I can't help but ask, what do you think about...well, everything?" Fox bounced on his feet. "I mean, between us coming down, wrecking Corneria's Space Force, declaring independence, and all."

Torahiko sighed and scratched his neck. "I dunno. I just hope you guys carry through."

Just at that moment, Fox felt arms wrap around him from behind. It was Wolf.

"What's going on here?" he asked, his voice still heavy from sleep. "Am I invited?"

"Apparently, Wolf, we're the main attraction," Fox laughed, and turned around so that he could hug Wolf properly.

"What!?" Wolf's eyes opened fully in surprise. "So you didn't do this? I was about to scold you for planning a big wedding! I didn't want to do anything special."

"Oh, Stars, you guys are impossible!" Falco groaned. "Slippy and I are just trying to do something fun."

"Oooh, I see," Wolf folded his arms, but somehow he appeared to shrink in front of Falco.

Fox's mind flashed for a moment to when Wolf and Falco first met. Surely they wouldn't tussle over something like this, right?

"Well, who am I to refuse a gift!?" Wolf patted Falco on the shoulder. "I'm honestly impressed! How much did you spend on all this?"

"We're not telling," Slippy shook his head definitively.

Out of curiosity, Fox pulled out his phone to check on Star Fox's various secret bank accounts, but found that there had been no recent transfers from them.

Slippy winked. "See? There's nothing to worry about."

Fox shook his head. "Alright, I won't ask."

"Great!" Falco and Slippy said together.

"Ahem," Torahiko cleared his throat. "Just so you two love-birds know, we chose to do a very simple, modern ceremony. I start the ceremony with a small reading from the Solar Analects, then you two do your vows, then we celebrate. Is there anything else you two would like to do?"

"I think I can handle that," Fox noddeed.

"You know on Venom, they'd break a wine glass after the vows," Wolf noted. "Can we do that?"

"What? Why?" Fox made a concerned expression.  
"I see no harm in it," Torahiko affirmed. "Do you have one you want to use?"

"Actually yeah, I have one that should be perfect. I'll go dig it out," Wolf ran back to the tent.

"So what time are we actually doing this?" Fox asked.  
"We were thinking around noon," Torahiko said. "So there's still plenty of time. And don't worry, my reading is very short."

"Okay," Fox leaned against a tree and sighed. "Sorry, I just..this still doesn't feel totally real yet. Am I supposed to get my own wine glass?"

Torahiko shrugged. "From what I know about Venomian weddings, they just break one together."

As it happened, Wolf came puffing back a few minutes later with a small crystalline wine glass, with a small yellow seal on the side.

"Oh, Wolf, that's surely too nice to break," Fox remarked.

"It'll be more meaningful this way," Wolf said. "It's not like I use it much."

"Great!" Torahiko exclaimed. "I don't think there's anything else you two have to do right now, except work on your vows if you don't have them."

Fox brushed back the unruly fur on his head with a hand. _Heck, what am I gonna say? What does Wolf plan to say?_

"Yeah, let's work on that," Fox agreed.

"Good, since I have no idea what to say!" Wolf exclaimed. "Do you have any templates?"

"I do actually," Torahiko answered. "But frankly I wouldn't use them. Surely you of all people can come up with something better."

"Hm," Wolf grabbed Fox's arm and began walking off. "Let's get to work then. See you in a bit!"

Fox look flustered, but he waved back and followed after Wolf.

After a few minutes, they found a small patch of short, soft grass where they could talk.

"I really don't know what to say," Fox lay down on the grass and crossed his arms. "I'm afraid that somehow this will end up on the news channels everywhere, and everything will be taken as a political statement."

"Hm," Wolf sighed. He sat down cross-legged and grabbed a clump of grass to weave together. "Maybe we can spin that to our advantage. What if we were making a political speech to the whole Cluster? What would that look like?"

"I mean, there's the obvious stuff," Fox spread out his arms and waved them around on the grass.

"Like, 'War is bad.' and 'Being gay isn't a genetic disorder.' But people have been saying that for centuries, and we haven't made any progress."

Wolf continued his weaving. "That's true, but isn't it better that at least those people stood up? Even if they failed, they tried."

"I guess," Fox's hand encountered a flower. He considered plucking it to look at the petals, but thought better of it, and left it alone. "It's just depressing how there's been no progress. Who's to say we can make a difference?"

"Oh, we probably won't," Wolf finished his weaving, and placed the circle of grass on Fox's chest. "But isn't it something you want to do anyway? I'm honestly surprised you're not lecturing me about this."

Fox laughed. Maybe that was true. _I'm supposed be the more optimistic and idealistic one, right? I guess it's not true._

"Eh, it's that Cornerian pragmatism, you know," Wolf lay down on the grass now, while Fox sat up.

"Cornerians are always focused on the results. That's why you conquered the stars first. Venomians focus on why they want to do something, and worry about the results later."

"But you're from Macbeth," Fox pointed out. "What's your characterisitc?"

Wolf smiled. "We do things in order to not piss off Venom, of course!"

Fox shook his head. "Haha, right, sorry."

"No, don't worry," Wolf assured him. "I certainly don't mind pissing off Venom anymore."

"Good!" Fox exclaimed. "I'm still not sure what we should say."

"Maybe we can just make it up then," Wolf suggested. "Then it'll be authentic, right?"

Fox gulped. "I don't know, I might choke up."

"Aw," Wolf sat up and wrapped his arms around Fox. "I might too. I'm sure they'd understand."

"Thanks," Fox sighed. "Hey look, there's clouds on the horizon!"

"Huh, so there are," Wolf looked over and saw an ensemble of big, puffy clouds marching closer ever so slowly. "I think those are the first clouds I've seen on Papetoon. Are these unusual?"

"Yeah, you only see clouds like that a few times a year," Fox confirmed. "Even the weather control satellites don't get it right all the time."

"Ha, just our luck," Wolf shook his head. "I hope it doesn't rain on us."

"No, that would be wonderful!" Fox stood, and pulled Wolf up with him. "Rain is very special here."

"Huh, interesting." Wolf said. "Venom is rainy all the time."

"I promise if it does rain, it'll be fun," Fox grabbed Wolf's hand again and began walking over to a hill. "You'll see. We can go see the clouds better up on that hill, and see when Torahiko and his friends are ready."

"Sounds good to me," Wolf replied, and the two climbed up the hill together.

"So, what does breaking the glass mean?" Fox asked. "Do they do it on Macbeth too?"

He was stretched out on the branch of an old oak tree, close to the ground. Wolf was sitting against the trunk of a tall pine tree.

"Yeah, they do," Wolf threw the cone to the side. "Every region has its own explanation for why, and I don't even remembe them all."

"What do you remember?" Fox continued.

"Hm, one explanation was about having restraint, even in your greatest moments of joy. Another was about how if you break something, like a marriage, you can't ever make it like it was before. Another is about remembering the destruction of an ancient city on Venom."

"That's kinda depressing," Fox twiddled his fingers. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes. It's important to me. " Wolf spoke firmly.

"Is there a particular explanation you want to use?" Fox continued, now fascinated and concerned.

"There is," Wolf affirmed. "My one friend on Venom told me, when she got married."

"What is it?" Fox looked intently at Wolf. There was still so much about him he didn't know.

"They took the pieces from their broken glass and made a small mosaic. Their explanation was to show how even if something is destroyed, it can find a new purpose."

"So that's one of a few nice memories from Venom, yeah?" Fox mused. _I was really fortunate to have Dad, then, wasn't I?_

"Pretty much, yep," Wolf was pick at a clump of pine needles on a branch.

"I'm sorry about that, Wolf," Fox went over and grabbed Wolf's hand. "You went through a lot that I'm sure I'll never understand."

"It's okay," Wolf shrugged. "It's what we're doing now, right? Taking the pieces of the past and making something beautiful."

"You really have a way with words," Fox stroked Wolf's ears.

"You help a lot," Wolf give Fox a quick kiss, and Fox pulled Wolf back to the branch where he had been laying before.

After a few hours of relaxing in the trees on the hill, they saw that everything looked ready.

"I'll race you back!" Wolf declared, jumping down across the hill.

"Haha, fine then!" Fox answered, who leapt out of his branch in the tree and began bounding towards Wolf.

By the time the two had reached the tents, the two were both neck-to-neck and completely out of breath.

"Hey, finally, you're back!" Falco exclaimed. "Did you two write a speech or something? Anyway, we're all ready."

"You'll see," Fox replied. He looked around, and saw that all of the two thousand or so soldiers had arranged themselves around the small stage, either sitting on the ground, or on makeshift platforms on the tents.

"Wow, is this everyone?" Wolf asked. "I wasn't sure if anyone actually wanted to watch."

"Of course they do!" Slippy came up, and handed Fox and Wolf cups of water. "It's kind of a historic event."

"Oh, thanks," Fox and Wolf replied, each taking a cup and gulping down the water.

"It is funny," Falco noted. "Who knew that Fox would be the first of us to get married?"

"Haha, clearly I was a bad influence," Wolf suggested. Everybody burst into laughter.

At that moment, a note from Kouya's guitar alterted everyone that they were ready to begin.

"Hello everyone!" Torahiko's booming voice filled the air. He waved over to Fox and Wolf, who made their way next to Torahiko on the stage. Kouya and his band were off to the side, while Shin, Shun, and the rest sat guarding several long tables overflowing with food. Fox was struck all of a sudden by the sea of faces around him, of all different colors, ages and species. They had all decided to wear their gray Cornerian uniforms, but many had scratched out or written over Corneria's seal. They had all been united originally by that seal.

I was sad to think about now, but there was a time when Fox would have seen them as no more than a mass of uniforms. Just a bunch of suits to help out in a mission, just cannon fodder.

He hoped that he would never have to think that way again. Now he could see all of them for the shining individual lives that they were. A twitch from Wolf suggested to him that he was on a similar line of thought.

"We're here today to celebrate the union between Fox McCloud and Wolf O'Donnell. I suppose they don't need introduction."

A wave of soft laughter.

"Still, this a historic event. The Hero of Corneria and the Scourge of Venom are uniting in the eternal bond of love. Surely this proves that love can overcome all boundaries."

Torahiko coughed, "We can only hope that the worlds they hail from will be as wise. To celebrate the occasion, I've decied to read a piece from the Great Master's Solar Analects."

Kouya's playing morphed into an ancient tune, one appropriate for reading poetry.

Torahiko looked up and noticed that the clouds were now above them. They were thick, gray clouds, and looked as if they were painted onto the sky, rather than floating. He cleared his throat.

Fox looked over at Wolf and gave a big, dumb smile. Wolf smiled back, just as big and goofy.

"At the age of 20, I felt love for the first time.

At 25, we were together under the law.

At 30, we each knew where we stood.

At 40, we finally had no more doubts.

At 50, we knew each other's will like our own.

At 60, our minds were fully attuned.

At 70, we followed our hearts' desires, truly as one.

You ask, how can it take so long?

But surely knowing the soul of another must take a lifetime."

Wolf had to admit, he was struck by the frankness and sincerity of those words. _Perhaps the old Cornerian philosophers weren't so full of nonsense after all._

"Now, Wolf has requested that we add a Venomian tradition to the ceremony," Torahiko's voice brought Wolf back to the moment.

"The breaking of a glass. Can you tell us what it means, Wolf?"

Wolf cleared his throat.

"Oh, yes, uh, this is something we do on Venom and Macbeth after the vows. Every region has its own explanation, but mine is that even when something is broken, it can still find a new purpose, and it can still be beautiful."

A round of polite claps from the soldiers. Falco and Slippy, though, looked to be literally on the edge of their seats.

"So Fox," he turned and took his companion's hands, "I..."

Wolf took a deep breath.

"I promise that I'll follow you to the ends of the Universe. Nothing will come between us."

Fox resisted the temptation to cover his eyes. He knew he was probably crying, but he didn't care.

"Good, because I promise I will never let you go. Forever and always." He hugged Wolf as tightly as he could, trying to feel every strand of fur, to know every curve and fold of the skin.

Wild cheers erupted around them.

"Now," Torahiko continued unfazed, "Let's break the glass."

Fox uncurled himself from Wolf. Torahiko held up the glass, then presented it to Wolf, who wrapped it in a white cloth.

The two of them put their heels on the glass together.

"Ready?" Wolf asked.

Just then, there was a crack of thunder, and a flash of lightning that briefly dyed the world blue.

There was a collective gasp from the soldiers. Kouya and his band stopped playing their melodic background music.

"Quick, go!" Torahiko exclaimed, covering his book with a plastic bag.

Fox and Wolf stamped their feet, and the glass broke. They were sure nobody had heard it, as the rain had started to fall in great sheets.

Wolf looked up and extended his hand, as if to catch the falling drops. They were much larger than the raindrops on Venom, and fell more slowly. It lacked the sharpness and intensity of Venomian rain, but was perhaps more pleasant overall.

All of the Papetoonites seemed entranced. Shin and Shun had seemingly forgotten about their food, and had joined Kouya's band. They were all waving their arms and singing nonsensically, as if enthralled by a water spirit. Tatsuki and his crew had summoned firecrackers out of nowhere and fired them off with quickly, suffusing the rain with a surreal array of colors. Even Fox had seeming lost his mind, and was dancing uninhibited in the new mud.

Despite all this, an orderly line of soldiers had formed, and was distributing food quite effectively. Fortunately, nobody seemed to mind getting wet, though it was all the more incentive to eat quickly. Wolf went over to Falco and Slippy, who were also in line to get food.

"Come on Wolf, let's go!" Fox yelled. "It's actually raining!"

Wolf handed Fox a plate of food. "What's going on?"

"I told you, rain is important," Fox replied. "So, we try to celebrate it!"

As if on cue, they heard a sequence of cheers and fireworks from the city.

"See, we're so lucky!" Fox added.

Wolf shook his head. "Alright, let's go."

Some hours later, Fox and Wolf sunk into their bed, entirely drained.

"Did you see Torahiko?" Wolf asked. "He's such a refined person, but he was like a maniac at the end. There wasn't even any alcohol!"

"That's just how it is," Fox replied, peeling off his soaking clothes.

"Well, I'm glad I got to experience it," Wolf peeled off his clothes as well, and wrapped himself in a big towel. "Hm, I think I'm just going to sleep like this."

"Good idea," Fox nodded. "Would you hand me one?"

"Sure," Wolf threw the towel so that it approximately wrapped around Fox.

"Good throw, Wolf."

"Thanks," Wolf yawned.  
"So, it's real now." Fox wrapped the towel around himself the rest of the way.

"Yep."

"You know, we don't even have rings or anything."

"Why don't we use some fragments from the glass?" Wolf suggested.  
"That would be perfect."

"Yeah, it would."

Fox yawned. "Okay, let's sleep. Love you."

Wolf set his still-towel-wrapped body next to Fox. "Love you too."


	24. Galaxy Black

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? You're still bleeding! Let me call-" John Felix reached for his phone even while he dabbed at the oozing wound on his father's arm.

"No!" Dr. Felix waved his arms in refusal. "Please, I can't handle any more stress. Then they'll know where I am anyway."

John sighed. "Okay. But please tell me what happened." Satisfied that the bleeding had slowed, he pulled out an antibiotic ointment and began rubbing it on the wound.

Dr. Felix coughed. "Well, they basically kidnapped me this morning and took me to the General's Tower. I tried to help at first but...I guess that's not what they wanted."

"Was it about that Fox guy?" Dr. Felix's son started to wrap gauze around his father's arm.

"Yes."

John shook his head. "I had a bad feeling about that. I know he saved us from Venom and all, but..."

Dr. Felix burst out laughing, frustrating John's efforts to wrap the gauze. "Do you think I don't know? Do you think I didn't have my reservations? Helping Fox was something I had to do, you know, as a professional."

John paused for a moment, sifting through words in his mind. "I wish you had been as professional to your former wife as your clients." _There. That should be just enough._

Dr. Felix stopped laughing. "...You're right. Maybe this is all punishment for my poor judgment back then."

"I don't know," John bent down to see if any other parts of his father's body were hurt. Fortunately, everything else looked okay. "You know, Mom's in town for a business trip. I had planned on having her come over tomorrow. Would you at least talk to her then?"

Dr. Felix chuckled. "I suppose I have no choice, right? Unless you planned on kicking me out tonight."

"No!" John exclaimed. "But I don't want to have another Lylat War in my house."

"That's fair," Dr. Felix held up his arms. "I'll be good. I have nothing to prove, after all."

John snorted. "Some people would find that to be a relief, you know."

Dr. Felix picked up the bottle of ointment and turned it around idly. "How has your mother been, anyway?"

"The bank has opened branches in three new cities, so she's been very busy. It's a good kind of busy, though." John went to his kitchen and started preparing a pot of tea and a plate of snacks.

"Hasn't she met anyone else?" His father asked.

"Oh yeah, she's seeing this one guy, Hiroto. A terrier, I think. They're taking it very slow."

"Better than nothing, I guess." Dr. Felix nodded.

"Yeah," John came back with the tea and snacks.

"How about you? Sorry, I can't help but ask," Dr. Felix said. He reached for the teacup with his good arm, but it was still too much.

"Here, let me help," John took the teacup and brought it up to his father's mouth. "And to answer, no, I'm not seeing anyone. Just working on my art."

"Thanks you. Well, that's good. Can I see it?"

"Sure! I'm making a landscape with whiptrees now."

"Whiptrees? Aren't they extinct?"

"Yeah, but there's enough pictures and videos to use for reference."  
"I see." Dr. Felix yawned. "Okay, I think that's enough excitement for today. Do you have a futon or something?"

"Oh, you can have the bed," John assured him. "I'll take the couch. It's pretty comfy anyway."

"Alright," Dr. Felix nodded. "I'm sorry about all this."

"Don't worry," John stacked up the empty plates teacups. "I'll keep you safe. Tomorrow will be a better day."

Fox and Wolf both looked around uneasily. The two of them were seated with Leon and Falco at a picnic table, finishing up smoothies. They were in a park at the edge of the main city on Astropolis. The air felt fresh, and was filled with the sound of ducks in the pond nearby.

"You know," Wolf whispered, "I've only ever been to Astropolis in the war, when it was a hollow, torn-up shell."

"Me too," Fox answered. "It feels weird seeing like, trees, and people walking around."

"Yeah," Wolf nodded. "I don't understand why people want to live here, so far from a planet."

"It's probably peaceful," Fox bent down and picked a weed out of a crack in the concrete and looked at it closely, as if to make sure it was really alive in the first place.

"Yeah, but it something goes wrong, I want solid ground under my feet," Wolf squinted and looked up again at the soft yellow light at the center of the station, and the "sky" above it, which was just the other side of the station. No blue here, no horizon or clouds, just more green and brown with flecks of gray.

"I agree," Fox followed Wolf's gaze, and the two recalled their memories of flying through the station during the War, when it had been nothing but dead soil and emergency evacuation lights. Wolf imagined that they must be sharing almost nearly the same images, and wondered how it would look if he could jump into Fox's view.

"Do you remember our last dogfight here?" Wolf asked. "I think you came in from that panel there, where the lake is now."

"Oh, you're right!" Fox looked up to where Wolf pointed, a panel in the "sky" dominated by a lake and surrounded by gardens. He could see dots in the lake which must be small boats. "Yeah, and then I circled around the artificial sun."

"You're lucky you didn't hit the reactor," Wolf teased. "Then we'd both be dead."

"I'm lucky!? You're the one who crashed into the water tank!" Fox shot back. He looked for a moment to find the station's water storage tank, which occupied several panels at the end of the station. "See, there it is. It looks better now."

"Well, it was a good distraction," Wolf shrugged. "And don't you forget that it's the first time I hit your reverse thrusters."

"Fair enough," Fox laughed. "Leon did a good job of cornering me there."

"Haha, he sure did," Wolf smiled with a sort of paternal pride. "Though Falco didn't make that easy."

"I sure didn't!" Falco jokingly puffed out his chest. "I'm just glad we don't have to do it again."

"Absolutely," Fox and Wolf agreed.

"Guys, come on!" Slippy came running up with Panther in tow. "They're about to start, and they want everyone looking good!"

"Roger that!" Fox nodded. They all put their uniforms on.

The "guard" uniforms that President Okifu supplied them with felt iredeemably silly to Fox. They were flashy and impractical, designed entirely to impress at a glance and nothing else. He hoped that they would serve that purpose, at least, and make the other representatives more likely to form an agreement.

"Uh, I hate politics..." Wolf sighed. "It's all pointless drama."

"Hopefully we can just stay quiet and look pretty," Fox grabbed Wolf's hands. "It will be a big step forward for everyone if they can actually pull this off."

"That's true," Wolf admitted. "Has Venom made any comment on this so far?"

"Not really," Panther shrugged. "Most of the major news networks aren't even covering this live."

"Is that bad?" Fox asked. "Venom used to broadcast so much propaganda. It's strange that they're pretending everything is normal now."

"Don't be so quick to assume," Leon added. "Venom was not traditionally so jingoistic. The fact is, we don't know what to expect."

Fox and Wolf nodded reluctantly. This was new territory for everyone.

The group made their way through the small city, much more congested than the ones on Papetoon, until they reached the great hall where Okifu would give her address.

"Ah, you're here, good!" Okifu exclaimed. "Ready? Hah, well you have to be. Let's go!"

The group entered the hall and found that the seats were, in fact, overflowing with people, both local citizens and various officials and dignitaries from other worlds. Fox spotted one person who looked like a Cornerian newscaster, and three Katinian reporters, but few other people from the media.

The crowd remained silent as Okifu walked over to the podium in the middle of the hall. As she set up her papers, holographic projectors cast her likeness at various strategic points around the hall. It was a convenient way to make yourself seen without having to see everybody.

Fox, Wolf, Leon, Falco, Slippy, and Panther all arranged themselves in an open corner. She cleared her voice weakly, but then straightened her back and spoke with resolve.

"Good morning, my fellow inhabitants of the Lylat Cluster! We are here to do something that should have been done long ago. We are here, in fact, doing something that should be done much more frequently. Regardless, it has fallen upon us, here and now. This is the creation of an interplanetary government that will mediate conflicts between worlds."

 _Okay, look impressive but not intimidating_ , Fox told himself as he continued gazing around. Everyone else looked as awkard as he did. Wolf, though, seemed oddly focused.

Fox raised an eyebrow in Wolf's direction. Wolf didn't move. He didn't have to do anything to tell Fox that something was wrong.

"Just wait a few minutes," Wolf whispered.

Fox shrugged. That didn't sound good. But what in Stars was he thinking about?

Okifu's speech was beginning to drag. Surely she knew they were here to negotiate, not to listen to her pontificate...

Suddenly, Wolf pulled out his blaster and rushed towards the podium. "Get down!" he yelled, though only Okifu and a few other people in the front obeyed. Seemingly out of nowhere, a simian figure clad in black rushed towards a far exit.

Fox was stunned. "Go! Corner him!" he ordered Leon and Panther, while he, Slippy, and Falco went a different route.

The figure in black, however, made it out of the building already. _Strange, he could have caused more trouble if he wanted to._

Wolf still pursued the black-clad figure with an incredible pace. Leon and Panther reunited with Fox, and the two attempted to talk while keeping up.

"Do you know who that is?" Fox asked, panting.

"I have a guess. It's not good," Leon replied. The group was already back at the park where they had just been sitting.

Finally the mysterious figure slowed down. He paused briefly by the pond, though he seemed more indecisive than tired.

"Yeah, you'd better stop if you know what's good for you!" Wolf fired recklessly at the ground near the figure's feet.

"Same to you!" the figure yelled back, in a sharp, piercing voice, and dove into the water. He emerged on the other side.

"You guys go that way!" Wolf yelled to Fox, Slippy, and Falco. "We'll take the other side."

Fox nodded. He saw that the other figure had already run past the park, past a golf course, and into a small orchard. He tried to run as fast as he could, through sidewalks, past golf carts and sand pits, and over fences and fallen trees.

After a few minutes, the six of them had convereged on the figure, who was now seated under an orange tree. He seemed to have taken off a layer of clothing, revealing a sort of boxing outfit.

"Andrew, we don't have to do this," Wolf pleaded.

"Andrew Oikonny?" Fox pulled out his blaster just to be safe.

"Yes, we do," Andrew sneered. "After what you've put me through, we sure do."

"Wolf, what is going on?" Fox pleaded. _I had heard Andrew was an incompetent. This doesn't make sense._

"You know I was only in it for the money," Wolf retorted. "Whatever you think I did, it's nothing personal."

"No, it isn't." Andrew agreed. "When Fox killed my uncle, it wasn't personal. And it won't be personal when I kill you all either. It will just be for Venom."

"Andrew, you were my friend!" Wolf cried out. "We trusted you. Don't you remember when you introduced me to Leon?"

"Of course," Andrew sighed, twirling his tail. "I don't see how that matters anymore since you've joined the other side."

"The Cornerian Space Force nearly killed us both!" Fox protested.

"Don't make me lose any last shred of respect I have for you, Fox," Andrew shot him a look. "You are still an enemy."

"Look, we just want peace," Wolf asked, hating himself for sounding just like the Cornerian guard that had imprisoned him not too long ago. "Surely you must understand."

Andrew laughed. "You can't have become that naive, Wolf. Venom has been humiliated by the War! But now, so has Corneria. So now is our best chance to strike."

Wolf sighed. "No. It won't work. You are _at least_ as naive as you think I am."

"What's wrong with you!?" Andrew shook his fists. "You're not the Wolf I knew."

"So what?" Wolf spat.

"Well," Andrew shrugged. "There's one of me, and there's only six of you."

He stood up and launched himself at Wolf.  
Fox found himself overcome by rage. He felt like a puppet, a passive observer of his own actions, while he was commanded for a moment by a god. He clawed and scraped at the dense brown fur and hard muscle like a wild animal. By sheer anger, he was able to peel Andrew off of Wolf, and pin him to the ground.

"Help me!" he called to Falco and Slippy, but they could only stare in shock. He kept pounding at Andrew.

"Fox!" Wolf was finally able to get through. His voice was haggard."He's already dead."

Fox stopped. The man named Andrew Oikonny was not breathing. Wolf had a series of purple bruises around his face, and long scratches on his chest. Fox noticed that his own hands were bleeding nearly everywhere.

Wolf shooed Fox away and cradled Andrew's head.

"I'm sorry..." Fox whispered. "I, uh..."

"It's okay," Wolf sniffed. "You...it was the right thing...I'm gonna need a moment."

"Right..." Fox still felt like a puppet.

"Oh, thank the Stars you're okay!" The voice of a local guard caught their attention.

"I'll um, I'll get help. Okifu is in negotiations, but I'll tell her what happened."

A few minutes later, an ambulance arrived.

"I'm sorry..." the paramedic wrung her hands. "I only kind of know the situation. Can you please identify the body?"

Wolf barked a single laugh. It was surreal to have to explain this situation to anybody.

"The body is Andrew Oikonny. He's Venomian."

"Very well. Do you have any of his legal documents? Do you know how he would want his body to be treated?"

"All that is probably classified by Venom," Wolf noted. "But I know he wanted to be cremated."

"That's fine," the paramedic replied. She directed her cohorts to tend to Wolf's scratches, and Fox's hands.

"Something tells me you guys are used to getting scratched up," she noted. Nobody really replied.

"Anyway, step in. We need to make sure you don't have internal wounds."

They arrived at a hospital a few minutes later. Andrew was taken to a lower level, while Fox and Wolf were scanned and given thorough examinations.

Surprisingly, Okifu was there to greet them. "Wolf, I cannot thank you enough!" she burst into the examination room, causing a nurse to yelp and nearly slap her with a clipboard. Okifu attempted to bow in apology.

"I will be always in your debt. Who was that man?" she asked.

"I'll explain later," Wolf replied. "I need some time to think. How are the negotiations?"  
"I think I've gotten Katina to listen to reason," she replied.

"Good," Wolf sighed. "I'll explain tomorrow, I promise."

"Of course," Okifu replied, while being shooed out of the room by the nurse. "I hope you recover quickly."

"Well, Wolf," the doctor began. "You're lucky you didn't hurt your leg more than it already is. _Please_ honor whoever worked on your leg before, and give it some rest."

"Uh, I'll try," Wolf replied weakly.

The doctor nodded severly. "You, Fox, are going to need a new left hand."

"What!?" Fox kicked his legs back and forth. "But it doesn't hurt."

"Exactly, because you _broke_ _the nerves_ ," the doctor replied.

Fox looked at his hand, and realized that in fact, he couldn't move it. "So we need to do that, like, right now?"

"Yes," the doctor replied, though he was clearly biting back something more rude. "Don't worry, Wolf, you'll see him in a few hours at the most. We see this stuff all the time. There's a waiting room in the east wing if you want to stay there."

"Good, thank you," Wolf nodded. He stood up and planted a kiss on Fox's forehead. "See you soon."

"See you," Fox waved.

Wolf walked into the hallway to see Slippy, Falco, Leon and Panther all looking like they had seen a ghost.

"Where's Fox?" Falco asked.

"How's your leg?" Leon nearly interrupted.

"Don't worry, he just needs a new hand," Wolf said. "And my leg is fine."

"How long will it be?" Slippy spoke up.

"The doctor said a few hours. We can stay in the waiting room."

"You guys really need to be careful," Panther noted after they had been waiting for about two hours. "If we keep going at this rate, there's not going to be much of either of you left. You'll both be robots."

"I guess you're right," Wolf smiled.

Falco patted Slippy on the shoulder, remembering their conversation on Papetoon about brains and Arwings.

They spent an hour or so longer watching the other people coming in and out of the hospital. It wasn't very busy that day, and most people seemed to be coming in for routine procedures.

Finally Fox walked out with the doctor, brandishing a bronze hand.

Everyone stood up and clapped.

"Make sure Fox takes it easy the first couple of weeks," the doctor told them. "I know who are you are, but that's no excuse for neglecting your own bodies."

"Thank you so much, doctor," Wolf bowed in gratitude.

"Of course," the doctor nodded. "Now, make my job easier and make sure there's not another war!"

"Okay, show me how it works!" Slippy pleaded, already running a finger around Fox's hand.

Fox tried to make a fist. It was strange in that it required no physical strength on his part, but it required him to concentrate carefully on each finger. He clenched and unclenched a few times, which took several minutes.

"I'm sure it'll get easier with time," Slippy placated him.

"Yeah," Fox agreed.

"It's quite beautifully crafted," Panther noted.

"Think of all the sharp things you could put on it," Leon added.

"And how hard you could punch now!" Falco concluded.

Fox laughed. "Thanks guys, I really appreciate it."

With that, they all returned to the hotel that Okifu had arranged for them. It was quite luxurious, being situated at the center of the station, and stabilized against rotation so that it faced Solar at all times.

Fox and Wolf found themselves in the hotel's observation room, which was empty except for the lone barkeeper. The barkeeper, a bright green parrot, was amusing himself by juggling shot glasses, and paid no mind to the couple on the big leather chair looking out into space.

"So, what happened with Andrew?" Fox swished his orange juice around. Wolf had insisted that he get it, instead of anything alcoholic. "I only remember him being a scrawny incompetent."

"Heh," Wolf poured himself another cup of green tea. "It's true, I kicked him off Star Wolf after only a few months. But after that, he got really determined. He got really scary."

"Are you serious?" Fox's eyes widened.

"Yep. After I kicked him out, he decided to become a spy," Wolf smiled.

"How did we not know?" Fox wondered to himself.

"He was the best spy Venom ever had," Wolf's smile widened, but grew sad at the same time.

"So what kind of things did he do?"

"Well, he gathered intelligence for pretty much every mission we ran. He had an uncanny ability to predict where you'd be at a certain time."

"So that's how you always managed to show up at the worst times."

"Yep."

"Wow," Fox curled himself up around Wolf. "This is rather disturbing for me to learn, here and now."

Wolf shrugged. "You still won anyway, right?"

"I guess so," Fox twiddled his thumbs. "Wolf, are you...sure you're still feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"I mean, I'm sorry about what happened. I can't imagine how you're feeling."

"It's okay. You had to kill your fellow Cornerian soldiers but you stayed strong, so..."

Wolf seemed frozen, like the words had stopped in his mouth.

"Wolf," Fox shook his head. "I know how strong you are. Whatever you feel about this, it's not weakness."

Wolf buried his face in Fox's chest and sobbed. "Forgive me, I'm so weak..."

"Sh," Fox squeezed Wolf's shoulders. "Never say that. You're the strongest person I know. I swear."

Fox wasn't sure how long they stayed like that. He just continued to stroke Wolf's fur, and hope that it made him feel better. His new left hand sat limp and useless to the side; he didn't feel comfortable using it quite yet.

At one point, the barkeeper dropped a glass, and decided to finally stop juggling. After that, he came over and spoke to Fox.  
"Hey, I'm sorry, but the bar is closing in a few minutes. I just need to take your glasses. You guys can stay as long as you need. The drinks are on me tonight."

"Thank you," Fox nodded.

"Of course," the parrot replied. "Uh, let me know if you two need anything while you're here. Have a good night."

"You too."

Now they were in silence. Fox looked out at Solar, which took up about a third of the wide viewport. Its frothing, roiling surface presented to him an endless variety of browns, reds, oranges and yellows, all pressed and smoothed into thin bands that made their way across the strange world. At the pole, the interstellar wind made auroras of stunning purple, blue, and green. It looked so peaceful from here. How had such a world nearly melted his Arwing?

Eventually he realized that Wolf had fallen asleep, and was snoring now instead of sobbing. He hoped that Wolf's dreams were more pleasant than the events of the day.

Slippy came in a few minutes later, finally rousing Wolf.  
"Sorry, I just wanted to check in," Slippy whispered.

"No worries," Wolf stood up and rubbed Slippy's forehead. Slippy couldn't help but make a goofy smile.

They made their way back to their rooms.

"You know," Wolf noted as they changed into pajamas for the night, "There's something we forgot to do during our wedding."

"What's that?" Fox was brushing his fur, and noticed a new cluster of light gray under his neck.

"We didn't kiss properly."

"Oh, I suppose we didn't," Fox admitted. "Well, care to show me how it's done?"

"Sure," Wolf gently pushed Fox down onto the bed, and he fell with no resistance.

Wolf clambered on top, and pressed his muzzle against Fox's.

Fox imagined at that moment that he could perceive every different texture of Wolf, from the sharpest teeth to the softest fur around his ears.

 _He smells like cinnamon_ , Wolf concluded. _Cinnamon and warm bread._

"Forever and always," Fox whispered.

"That's right," Wolf affirmed. "Forever and always."


End file.
